Closet
by lucyhoneychurch
Summary: Chloe tries an unorthodox method to try to get Lois and Clark to talk about the events of the infamous date.....a sequel to 'Date.'
1. Chapter 1

**'Closet'-t****he Sequel to 'Date'**

As you all can see from the title, this is the sequel to 'Date.' As there are going to be NC-17 chapters in this story and I can't post them here, I suggest you go to 'Divine Intentions,' (a Clois forum) to read the smutty chapters.

And remember-awriter with many reviews is a more prolific writer...with that in mind, enjoy the story.

* * *

It had been a week.

One whole week since what Chloe had started to refer to as 'The Date' that she had had to watch her cousin and Clark not talk to each other and, if this weren't enough, very obviously avoid the other's presence.

The fact of the matter was that she had had enough. What she had seen outside the restaurant in the front seat of Mr. Kent's pickup truck had been completely overdue- a conclusion she had come to on the way back to her apartment on the evening in question- and a natural progression from the incessant arguing that Clark and Lois routinely participated in.

And so it was that she found herself rigging the doorknob to the walk-in closet/bathroom that Lex Luthor had added to the apartment above the Talon to lock itself as soon as it closed. Although he hadn't said anything about it, Chloe strongly suspected that this addition to Lois' apartment was only a way for Lex to justify a rent hike-knowing full well that his current tenant couldn't afford it.

The doorknob idea had come to her two days ago but she had ran the idea past Martha Kent first. It was childish, simple, and Clark was probably going to be able to break right through the rigged doorknob, but Chloe took comfort in the fact that maybe he wouldn't. It took two to make out after all and, from what Chloe had seen, Clark had been an active participant.

She hummed quietly to herself as she placed the final touches on the closet, stepping back after the last detail and smiling.

This was going to be perfect.

* * *

Clark closed the cash register at the Talon with a sigh and picked up his jacket from the chair that he had placed it on when he had entered the coffee shop an hour ago. He paused, shaking his head at the silence that pervaded the room. The problem was not that he was alone….it was that he hadn't been until approximately 55 minutes ago. He shook his head at how pathetic he sounded, even in his head. The fact of the matter was that his life was seriously screwed up and there was only one place to put the blame: Lois Lane.

Since their make-out session in the front seat of his parent's truck a week ago, she hadn't spoken to him and had been actively avoiding any situations that would put them into a room alone together. This was probably the best reason to explain the fact that he was currently closing the Talon alone; as soon as his mother had left, Lois had made an excuse about not feeling well and had gone upstairs, leaving him to close the till by himself. It wasn't that he minded doing it, it was just that he was incredibly confused as to why they had ended their faux double date with Chloe the way they had and, if Lois kept avoiding him the way she had been the last week, then he had no choice but to remain confused.

He sighed in remembrance and wished for what seemed the millionth time that week that he had had the guts to force her into a conversation about what had happened during what Chloe now called 'the Date.'

Indeed, Clark had found out the morning after that Chloe had seen them in their now infamous lip lock-she hadn't stopped bothering him about it since. He shook his head. Chloe thought he was being too timid in his approach; if he wanted Lois he wasn't going to get her by waiting for her to come to him-he was going to have to do it himself.

He just wasn't sure that that was what he wanted. He and Lois were complete opposites; they fought all the time and, while there lay a modicum of friendship between them, he wasn't sure that they would survive each other should he get up the nerve to suggest that they try even kissing each other again, let alone attempt something as extreme as dating.

He slipped his jacket on, heading for the door and reaching for the light switch, turning it off as he moved past. And that was when he heard it-Lois's voice, calling for help in her apartment. Alarmed, he turned the lights back on and went for the stairs, pausing at the top to try the doorknob. Finding it locked, he broke it and stepped into the apartment, following Lois' voice to the bedroom. At this point he hesitated briefly but, as it appeared that this was where Lois was, he continued.

He raised an eyebrow in confusion as he took in where Lois was.

She was in the closet.

With a roll of his eyes, he opened the door.

"Smallville," Lois crossed her arms, her voice lowering as it appeared that she would be rescued. "Thank God you got here; I thought I was going to be locked in here all night."

"What are you doing in here, Lois?" he asked warily, looking around the large walk-in closet as he stepped inside, making sure to prop the door open with the waste paper basket that Lois had sitting outside the door.

"It's a closet, Clark." She rolled her eyes. "What do you think I was doing? I took a shower and then came in here to get dressed. The next thing I know, the door won't open. Hence the calling for help thing I was doing which clearly worked because you're now here to let me out." She cleared her throat, moving to the door. "Now come on. I'm starving and you need to leave."

"Lois wait," he sighed in frustration, making a decision. Now was as good as any time for their conversation. They were alone in her apartment after all which meant that she couldn't make any excuses about having someone else to talk to or somewhere else to be.

Lois drew a breath, knowing what subject he was going to broach and not wanting to go there. She ignored the attempt, opening the door.

"Lois, I really think that we should talk. We can't keep doing this," he tried again, grabbing her arm in a feeble attempt to get her to stop and talk to him. He didn't care if she told him that she didn't want to talk about it, he just wanted some kind of answer to the burning question that had been plaguing him all week: had it meant anything for her?

She let the door go, hearing it thud gently against her plastic trash can and turned, looking him in the eye. "Clark, can we not talk about this now? Maybe even forget it happened in the first place? It's not like it meant anything anyways. I mean, we were both angry and….things happened. It's perfectly understandable…"

He looked at her incredulously, "Are you serious? You honestly think we could just pretend like it didn't happen?"

"Yes." She raised her chin defiantly, "I do, actually, and I think we should."

She drew a breath, looking away as she put a hand on the door again to open it.

Clark nodded soberly. "And it didn't mean anything?"

"No."

He shrugged, "Well then I suppose if we did it again nothing would happen? It would mean nothing…"

"Yes. That's what I'm saying." She let go of the door, hearing it yet again clunk hollowly against plastic. "What's your point?"

Clark drew a breath, uncrossing the arms that he had subconsciously crossed at some point in the conversation. If she wanted to do this the hard way, then so be it. He had to know if there was anything there, and he would be damned if Lois' pride or whatever it was that made her act like this got in the way of that.

Lois looked up from the floor, taking from Clark's silence that he agreed with her wish to forget that they had ever...she blushed, interrupting her own thoughts as she remembered back to their time in the front seat of Mr. Kent's truck.

_No,_ she shook her head, looking back down. She couldn't go there.

Clark simply watched as Lois battled with her own emotions, the decision he had silently come to seconds ago only cementing itself further.

"Clark?" Lois looked up again, and froze at the look in his eyes. She hadn't seen that look in a week. "What are you…umpf!"

He was kissing her and, despite her reluctance to acknowledge what she had felt last week, she felt the same feelings rush in on her. She vaguely felt the sound her back made as it hit the door of the closet, and in the back of her mind, heard the slide of plastic against wood as the trash can slid from its place propping the door open and shut with a short click.

"Shit," she cried, detaching herself from Clark and, with one hand, trying the doorknob.

"You felt it too?" Clark breathed, a small smile appearing on his face. Chloe had been right; there WAS something there…

"God Smallville, no!" Lois protested, brushing off the hand that hand come down to her waist when she had broken away to try the door handle, and crossed her arms. "Thanks to you, we're now locked in here."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

Clark looked confused, "What?"

Lois simply rolled her eyes, turning around and trying the doorknob again, demonstrating for Clark how locked it was. "You knocked the trash can out of the way and now we're locked in here."

"Locked?"

"Yes, locked!" Lois crossed her arms. She moved away from the door to go try the bathroom window. She had tried it before when it had only been her locked in here but it hadn't opened more than the usual 3 inches or so that it normally did.

She strongly suspected that it would still be impossible to open and if that were the case…then she was stuck in here with Clark Kent until at least tomorrow morning when Martha Kent came in to open the Talon.

Clark watched as Lois moved out of the closet area into the bathroom, hearing her rattle the window in an attempt to open it. He drew a breath and let it out, raising his eyes to the ceiling as he began to think of a way to break the lock on the door without Lois finding about his powers.

"Clark?" Lois called from the bathroom.

"Yeah Lois?"

She poked her head out of the doorway to the bathroom, "Can you check and see if the guys Lex sent over to fix this place up left any tools behind?"

"Sure," he murmured, heart falling slightly at the urgent tone to her voice. Lois clearly didn't want to spend anymore time than was absolutely necessary with him and that hurt him more than he'd care to admit.

"And stay away from the drawers, alright?" Lois looked in on him again, "You and my frilly underthings don't need to touch."

"Like they haven't already?" he shot back pointedly.

"Clark!" Lois' jaw dropped, a blush flirting with her cheeks.

He shot her a pointed look, having decided moments ago that as long as Lois was ignoring anything remotely emotional that may or may not have occurred between them, than so could he. If she wanted the usual sarcasm and arguments, then that was what she was going to get, "Lois, in case you've forgotten, that was my hand up your shirt last week. I'm afraid me and your frilly underthings are already well acquainted."

"But it doesn't mean that you're going to get a repeat performance," she stood in the doorway, arms crossed. "Now get looking. The sooner you find something to open the window, the sooner we can get out of here."

Clark drew a frustrated sigh as he watched her go back into the bathroom, continuing his search for a tool box, a wrench, something in which to aid their way out of the confined space. It was then that he spotted it.

"Lois!" he called, moving across the closet to crouch next to the box he had found shoved behind a pile of Lois' clothes, thrown haphazardly over the aforementioned container. He picked it up; tossing aside the shirt and bra that got caught on the corner of the cardboard.

Lois stepped out of the bathroom, "Did you find something to open the window with?" Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of the shirt and bra that had been moved with the box. "Clark, you pervert, I told you not to go through the drawers!"

"I wasn't," he mused, ignoring her insults as he stood up and groaned at the contents of the box, visible through the opening at the top that hadn't been covered when the lid had been folded over. If what he had caught a peek of was any indication, they were going to be here awhile and if that was the case, he probably didn't want to be starting any arguments with Lois.

She was going to be angry enough as it was.

Lois rolled her eyes, moving farther into the room and crossing her arms at the typically frustrating Clark behaviour, "Well what did you call me for? You should keep sear….what is that?"

Clark set the box down onto the dressing table and looked Lois in the eye, "Well, it looks like a care package. From Chloe if my guess at the handwriting on the top is correct."

Lois shot him an incredulous look, "Not funny Clark. Why would Chloe leave us a care package in here unless…."

"…she had something to do with the door mysteriously locking anyone who closes it inside?" Clark ran a hand through his hair in frustration and looked once more at the contents of the box.

Lois lifted the lid and let out a weary sigh. She should have known her cousin would do something like this. With a deep breath, she picked up the two sealed envelopes sitting on top of whatever she had left for them, half-covered at the moment by what looked like one of Martha Kent's tablecloths. "Um, Clark? Looks like Chloe had help."

Lois crossed her arms and pursed her lips as she nodded her head towards the tablecloth.

Clark, knowing the piece of cloth by the burn in the corner-a remnant of one his failed experiments with harnessing his heat vision- let out another groan as he lifted it out of the way.

"Well, at least we're going to be well fed," Lois broke in, slipping past him to take in the contents of the box. Indeed, it looked like Martha Kent and Chloe had left them a veritable feast. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and a mixed vegetable side dish were stacked in wrapped foil containers (which Lois assumed were to keep the heat in because the bags were still warm) alongside a bottle of lemonade, two glasses, plates, cutlery….and a dessert that Lois identified as chocolate fudge cake-her favourite item to grace the counters of Mrs. Kent's kitchen.

Clark watched as Lois took the items out of the box, setting them beside the envelopes on the dressing table before she paused, slowly growing red as she looked into the recesses of the care package.

"Lois?" he questioned worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"Um-hm," she murmured before closing the box and placing her back against the dressing table in front of it.

A slow smile grew on his face as he saw a challenge placed in front of him. Something else was in the box that she didn't want him to know about. "Was that everything then?"

"Yep," she nodded, the blush deepening.

"Um-hm," Clark leaned forward, his arms on either side of her body. "Why do I not believe you then?"

"Well," she looked down, watching as Clark's body cornered hers against the table. "We don't exactly trust each other, Clark. It's a natural reaction for you to be suspicious of my actions and furthermore, for me to be suspicious of your actions."

"Right," he leaned closer, the arm that he had set on the right side of her body moving to take hold of the box "Try that again, Lois."

She gulped, noticing just how close his body was to hers right now and feeling her whole body start to tingle. She inwardly tried to tamp down the reaction, closing her eyes to help the attempt, but only succeeded in making it grow to a low hum and, in doing so, drawing her to the conclusion that she hadn't wanted to make all week.

Clark Kent turned her on.

Maybe it had been the kisses they had shared a week ago in the front seat of his Dad's truck, maybe it had been the kiss that had occurred moments before or maybe, just maybe, it had been the implications of the last items that Chloe had seen fit to slip in the box (for surely Mrs. Kent wouldn't have put them in) but Lois found herself hoping that Clark would make another move because she didn't think she had the strength to do it herself.

She didn't get the opportunity to do anything though as she felt his body move away from hers quickly, and the corner of the box that had been lightly digging into her back since Clark had backed her up against the dressing table suddenly left.

"Hey!" Lois protested, opening her eyes to see Clark about to open the box again. "I told you there wasn't anything in there!"

"And you're lying," Clark smirked, lifting the lid and looking her in the eye. "Although I don't know why you would need t…oh."

He stared down at the contents and blushed. There, lying at the bottom of the cardboard box was a bottle of scotch….and an unopened carton of condoms.

He looked up to see Lois looking down at her hands, "So, I guess you told Chloe then?" he asked awkwardly, setting the box back on the dressing table with the first items they had taken out of it.

Lois nodded, "Yeah, she kind of…forced it out of me. Something about seeing us the other night. I'm guessing she got to you too?"

"Yeah," he sighed, running a hand over his eyes. "Although I really didn't think she'd go to such lengths to get us to talk."

"Or whatever…" Lois waved a hand toward the box.

Clark's blush deepened, "Yeah."

Lois cleared her throat, "It looks like we're going to be stuck in here for awhile though."

"Lois, you didn't want to actually….." Clark trailed off, turning alarmed eyes on Lois.

Lois crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, a smirk rising on her face, "No Clark. I'm hungry and I was wondering if you were wanted to start on your Mom's food. Chloe must have put this stuff up here right before I came up because it's still warm and I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

She shrugged, her smile turning sarcastic, "Of course if you want we could always skip dinner, get drunk and have sex instead."

Clark laughed nervously, making a mental note to severely reprimand Chloe for putting he and Lois into this position later, "No, um, dinner sounds good."

"I thought you would say that," she smiled, passing him the tablecloth for him to spread on the floor while she brought the food over.

It wasn't until they had full plates of food in front of them that she spoke again, "So why do you think she did it?"

"Who? Chloe?" Clark raised an eyebrow and swallowed the bite of chicken he had in his mouth. "It might have something to do with the way you've been behaving this week."

"The way I'VE been behaving?" she retorted, lifting a forkful of mashed potatoes to her mouth.

"Yeah," Clark continued. "You haven't been able to stay in the same room with me all week."

The forkful of vegetables that was poised to enter Lois' mouth paused as she raised an eyebrow. "Me? What about you Clark? I haven't seen you searching me out in the last few days."

"But I haven't been avoiding you either," he said heavily.

Lois levelled a gaze in his direction and shook her head. "We're actually going to have to talk about this, aren't we?"

"Well, it's either that or get drunk and have sex," Clark turned her words from earlier back on her, equally as sarcastically, "Your choice."

Lois let out a groan, "Alright fine. What did you want to talk about?"

"Why have you been avoiding me this week?" he asked quietly.

She raised an eyebrow, "Choose an easy one to start with, don't you Smallville?"

"I try," he murmured dryly, "Now answer the question."

"Can't we have a veto option?"

"Lois."

Lois sat up and crossed her arms, food forgotten on the plate in front of her, "Well it's difficult for me, you know?"

"No I don't know. You won't tell me," Clark sat up too.

"Well it's difficult!" she spat out, running a hand through her hair. "What happened last week is just…..it shouldn't have happened, Clark!"

She paused, drawing a breath and trying to calm herself down.

"Why not? What was so wrong about it that it shouldn't have happened?" Clark asked softly, making her look up at him in disbelief.

"You can't be serious Clark," she shook her head. "We kissed. A lot and….."

"And what?" he asked, "You enjoyed it? Is that what's bothering you so much Lois?"

She took a breath and looked at him, "Well doesn't it bother you? We hate each other."

"Do we?"

"Would you stop answering my questions with a question? It's annoying."

"When you tell me what bothered you so much that you avoided me all week, I'll stop answering your questions with another question," he smirked at her, thoroughly enjoying himself. Clark knew why it had bothered Lois because it was the same reason it had been bothering him before he had decided to prove conclusively to himself what he had known subconsciously since they had first kissed each other-there was something between them that lay beyond the realms of friendship and even the hatred they told themselves they harboured for each other.

In one kiss, Clark and Lois had shown each other that they could be more than bantering sometimes friends and maybe cross into a relationship that neither had thought possible between the two of them and that, justifiably, was scaring the hell out of them both.

Clark was drawn out of his thoughts as Lois' eyes moved up to meet his and she began to speak.

"Alright. Fine. I'll tell you," she sighed, "It bothered me so much because, for those moments when…..when you and I were kissing, I felt something that I never thought I'd feel for you. And then when you kissed me again before the door closed earlier, I felt it again and that's wrong."

They both fell silent as her voice trailed off, the words hanging in the air between them.

"Why is it wrong?" Clark broke the silence, a soft smile tainting his words. It hadn't just been him feeling something between them then.

Lois rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the plate of food in front of her as she took another bite, "You told me you'd stop doing that if I told you the truth. Now I have, so stop answering in questions and answer a few of mine. What did you feel?"

Clark lay back on the tablecloth until he was propped up on his arm, taking a sip of the juice in his glass contemplatively, "I don't know."

Lois glared at him, "Wrong answer Smallville. I told you what I felt, now you tell me. I'm not the only one who's going to make a fool of myself tonight. I want to hear it all; every feeling, every….twitch." Her eyes raked his body at this point, pointedly falling on his groin before going back to his face.

"Lois!" another blush infusing his face with colour.

She shrugged, unashamed of her blatant perusal of his body, "Don't try to deny it Smallville. I felt that too…."

"Fine," he ground out. It was all fun and games when it came to interrogating Lois but when it came to him….well, he would rather they skip him entirely. "I felt……weird. And yes," he met her gaze, knowing that her mind was still dwelling on the state of his lower body on the evening in question. She knew she was attractive, they HAD been making out and he was a 20 year old male. Alien or not, that part of his anatomy had been rather hard to control due to the aforementioned circumstances…"That too." He took a breath and averted his eyes for this next part, not willing to say the things he was about to say and keep eye contact. It was all well and good to say how he felt but to meet Lois' eyes would be to tell her how he felt and he wasn't ready for that kind of personal interaction. There was too much room for rejection in that. He was saved by Lois' voice, breaking into the pregnant pause that he had been loath to fill.

"There's just one thing I can't figure out," Lois took another bite of her dinner contemplatively, absorbing Clark's words with a neutral face.

"And what's that?" he asked warily.

"Why you kissed me again," Lois put her fork down and moved closer to Clark.

Clark blushed, looking uncomfortable. "Well, it was actually Chloe's idea."

"Chloe told you to kiss me again?" Lois raised her eyebrows amusedly.

Clark shook his head, "No, she told me that if I wanted you I was going to have to come and get you myself because you probably wouldn't make the first move. Since I didn't know if I wanted you or not, I needed to find out."

Lois nodded her head, drawing a breath and taking a sip of her juice, "And what was the verdict?"

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes, casting him an amused smirk, "To the second kiss, Clark. What was the verdict? Are you going to, as Chloe suggested, 'come and get me' or did it change your mind about me?"

He looked her in the eyes and sat up, suddenly angry. She was playing with him. "See, I knew this would happen. Here I am trying to be honest with you and you're making fun of me."

Lois crossed her arms, watching as Clark's jaw set in what she knew was the position it got into before he started to brood. By his reaction, she knew exactly what he had felt when he had kissed her the second time because she had felt it too.

This didn't mean that she didn't need to confirm it for herself though and, judging by the look on Clark's face, now was just about the perfect time. With a sigh as she resigned herself to what she was going to do, she leaned forward and placed her lips to his.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Lois pressed her lips against Clark's and sighed as the overwhelming warmth she had felt from last week returned in full force. Feeling his mouth give under hers, she deepened the kiss-forgetting for a moment exactly who she was kissing and why she shouldn't be kissing him.

This was better than she remembered. This was….home.

She felt Clark's hand move up to stroke her back and with one arm, she reached behind him to steady herself against the rug of the closet, sighing into his mouth as she struggled to keep some semblance of sanity.

In the end it was Clark's voice that broke the spell, reminding her of exactly who she was kissing and why she couldn't be associating the feelings he was generating within her to comfort, and happiness. This was Clark Kent after all; the same Clark Kent who she argued with on a daily basis, who annoyed her to no end and….the same Clark Kent who kissed like a god...

"So what's the verdict?" he asked, his mouth tracing a trail of small kisses down her throat.

"What?" Lois breathed huskily, the fog his kisses had created clearing slightly. If she let him continue, they might have to break out that box of condoms that Chloe had seen fit to pack in their 'care package' and Lois didn't think their 'relationship'-whatever the hell it was right now-could handle the mixed messages that sex would send.

"To…this," Clark tried to claim her mouth again, pulling her down on top of him on the floor.

Lois' brain, now suddenly clear, pushed her heart away and took hold of her body. With a gulp, she sat up, pulled Clark's arms from her ribcage, and adjusted her shirt.

"Lois?" Clark sat up, watching as the woman sitting on the floor turned her face away from him and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yeah Clark?" she took a deep breath, reached for her half empty glass of juice and took a delicate sip. She closed her eyes, trying desperately to slow her rapidly beating heart.

This could not be happening to her with him. He was…._Clark._ There was no reason he should make her feel so much with one little kiss….well, one BIG kiss if she really wanted to be honest. This hadn't only happened tonight after all; it had happened a week ago and, while there hadn't been anything beyond some groping of each other in strategic places, a week's distance from Clark had only made her body want to spend more time groping his.

Only this time, she wanted it to be naked groping…..

"Lois, look at me," Clark said softly, unsure of how to deal with this kind of reaction from her. Sarcasm he could deal with but this denial that she was indulging herself in was foreign to him.

She turned her eyes in his direction but didn't look into his face, "What Clark?"

"You felt that, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, shifting her gaze to look at the half-filled plate still sitting in front of her, contrasting it to Clark's nearly empty plate and decided that she should probably try to eat some more. After all, Mrs. Kent-however ill-intentioned-had prepared this food for her to eat, not leave to grow cold in an aluminium container on her dresser. Beyond nutrition, it provided an excuse to put her attention towards something else other than the attractive man sitting next to her on the checkered tablecloth that they had spread over the light coloured shag carpeting of her new closet. She dared to look over at Clark again but had to close her eyes as the low ache that had developed swiftly in her belly while she had been kissing him flared to life again.

She had the distinct feeling that no amount of Mrs. Kent's home-cooking was going to sate the kind of hunger she was currently feeling.

Drawing a breath, she shifted her gaze back to the dinner that lay on the tablecloth before them and began to clear the dishes, putting the leftovers away.

"Here, let me help," Clark let out a frustrated sigh and reached for the container of lemonade, standing and putting it back into the cardboard box before returning for the plates.

"Just put them in the bathroom sink for now," she murmured neutrally, inwardly gathering her thoughts and trying not to panic as she tried to imagine what she and Clark were going to do until Clark's mom came to open the Talon tomorrow morning and they-she assumed anyway-would be released.

Clark paused on his way out of the bathroom, watching as Lois folded up the tablecloth and set it in the box on top of the food. The scotch, he noted had been moved to Lois' dresser along with the two white envelopes that they hadn't opened yet and the box of condoms. He gulped, averting his eyes and trying to suppress what seemed like the umpteenth blush of the evening, as his mind wandered into the gutter.

This was not the time for that kind of thinking. If he wanted Lois in a relationship-and he had decided he wanted to try that, especially given Lois' reaction to their kisses-he didn't want her thinking he only wanted her for her body, or from the physical satisfaction they very likely could provide each other.

Clark Kent was, above all, a romantic and if he was going to pursue anything with Lois, it was going to be meaningful. "Lois?"

"Hmmm?" she looked up and for a moment, Clark could have sworn he saw her eyes mentally undress him in front of her. That couldn't be right though. Lois was too busy denying that anything had happened to be thinking such dirty thoughts….

"What are you doing?"

She shrugged, "Cleaning up our dinner. Then I thought I'd try to find that deck of cards I think I remember throwing in the dresser drawer and then I figured we could play a game."

"I thought that was what you were already doing," he entered the closet and leaned back against the dresser.

Lois quirked a confused eyebrow in his direction, "I'm not following, Smallville. What game am I playing?"

Clark rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "It's called denial, Lois. It's what stupid people do when they find out something new and potentially frightening about themselves."

"I'm not in denial," she gave him an indulgent smile. "I didn't feel anything and even if I did, nothing would-or should-come of it."

"Why not?"

Lois moved closer to him, careful to keep her mask of indifference on her face and inwardly repeating to herself that this couldn't happen. It would ruin too many aspects of their relationship that she had, since coming to Smallville, grown used to. It was something that she could always find when she returned here and she knew that that would change if she did anything to jeopardize the precarious balance between acquaintance and friend that she and Clark sat on right now. By getting into something with Clark, she would be successfully cementing a place for herself in Smallville and within his family-a family that had become such a part of her life that even the idea of ruining her relationship with the Kent's sent her into a panic. If she denied that anything was happening, then nothing would change and if she left the small town again-a highly likely scenario given the demands her father and sister placed on her-than she would still have the Kent's and Smallville to come back to, unchanged.

If she and Clark became something she would be trapped, and if she left-which she very likely would-then everything would change. She averted her eyes briefly before looking back at him, new resolve behind her. Nothing could happen and that was just a fact.

"Because," she said finally.

Clark looked at her pointedly, "That's not an answer Lois."

"Okay then," she sent the look back at him, "If you want to know, there are a number of reason's why this shouldn't happen. Number 1: You are my cousin's best friend."

Clark looked at her incredulously, "So?"

Lois tried again, her mask wavering slightly, "Number 2: I work for your mother."

"Again, I'm not seeing the problem…"

She tried again, this time with what she felt was her strongest argument as to why she 'hadn't felt anything' in the kisses they had shared, "And number 3: We hate each other. Do you need more? Because I'm certain I can think of some…"

Clark drew a deep breath and crossed his arms, "I'm still not buying it, Lois, and I know you felt something because I felt it to. Don't you want to find out what's there? See if there's potential for something…more?"

Lois took her arm out of his grasp, "Clark, we're not even really friends and you know what? I lied earlier. I felt nothing. So you see why I know there's not…potential in us beyond friendship and even that's pushing it."

He looked her in the eyes and knew she was lying, "Prove it."

"What?"

He stepped closer to her, "Prove it. Kiss me again-like you mean it-and if you don't feel anything again then I'll agree that there's nothing here and we'll go back to hating each other."

"Clark, we just tried that. I don't think that kissing each other yet again is going to prove anything we don't already know," she murmured, watching as he moved closer to her. She moved farther back into the corner of her closet, away from him. "And I really don't think it's a good idea anyway…"

"Shhh," he placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "Just one more. If there's nothing, I'll never bother you again, okay?"

"You promise?" she asked, feeling his body brush against her as his hand cupped her face. She tried to harden the mask of indifference that she had been trying to hold onto for the last few minutes but failed.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad….

"Mm-hm," he nodded, and lowered his lips to hers.

That feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had been denying all week roared into flame and she drew closer to him, kissing him a little more roughly than before, and slipped her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders.

"Lois," he murmured huskily into her ear

Something inside her snapped and suddenly she didn't care anymore but then again, that had seemed to happen a lot lately when Clark got close to her. "Oh…..fuck it," she cursed under her breath and wrapped her arms, already halfway there, around Clark's neck.

* * *

A/N Chapter 4 is WAY above the M rating so if you want to read the chapter, I suggest you go to my yahoogroup. The address is located in my profile. Thanks! 


	4. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

Lois Lane woke up twice between the evening and the morning that she and Clark obliterated the last remaining line in their relationship. The first was in the closet when she realized that, in their combined orgasms-somehow-they had managed to break the doorknob on the locked closet right off, thereby freeing themselves from Chloe's attempt at matchmaking.

The second time had been when the sun had fallen on her faced, moved into position by the rapidly approaching morning and burning her eye into wakefulness.

She wished she had stayed asleep.

Because then, maybe, she could have stayed in blissful ignorance as to what her and Clark's bodies had done the night before, and then again once Clark had carried her to bed. She wouldn't remember the feeling of rightness that had pervaded her heart and body as they had made love again in the sheets after enjoying a midnight snack of Martha Kent's chocolate cake. And she most certainly wouldn't remember what had happened with the leftovers, how they had teasingly licked icing from each other's bodies before moving to the shower and making love again. She wouldn't remember how, once they had finished, they had retreated back to bed, crawled under the sheets and held each other-really held each other-for the first time.

Because, with her second waking, the sun glaring into her eyes reproachfully, Lois' brain woke up and declared that what had happened the night before had been wrong and what's more, that she should put a stop to it immediately.

Unfortunately Lois Lane, daughter of General Sam Lane, had been trained since childhood to listen to her brain.

* * *

Clark woke up to an empty bed.

He rolled over, opening his tired eyes further and looked around the room.

"Good morning."

He looked toward the source of the voice and drank in the sight of Lois, leaning against the doorframe to her bedroom and drinking what he strongly suspected was coffee if the smell that pervaded the apartment now was any indication. A small smile rose on his face as he watched her take a sip and it was then that he noticed it.

She couldn't look him in the eye.

"What's wrong?" he asked warily, sitting up and searching the room for his clothes. Something about the way she was behaving was making him want to be clothed, and out of bed.

Lois took a breath and entered the room, adjusting the bathrobe she had slipped on to cover her nudity when she had gotten out of bed, "Nothing. I'm just…tired."

He shot her a look and the smile on his face grew mischievously. _Maybe she was just feeling awkward about what happened last night_, he thought. _That would explain the odd behaviour._ With this in mind, he made a concerted effort to put Lois more at ease, "Well we didn't really sleep much last night, did we?" he frowned as his search for his clothes proved unfruitful, "Lois, where did you put my clothes?"

She blushed, "Um, I think we left them in the closet."

"Right," he got out of the bed, stood up and moved towards the closet.

Lois felt her body melt a bit as Clark stood up to retrieve his clothes, still naked from the nights activities, and winced. Reality had set in in the half hour she had been up and she realized now exactly how wrong last night had been.

Now if only her body would believe her.

She walked toward the closet and watched as he slipped his jeans on over his naked flesh. That was one thing she hadn't been expecting. Whether it had been just something he had forgotten to do the previous morning, or whether it had been a regular occurrence, she had discovered last night that uptight, straight as an arrow Clark Kent hadn't been wearing any underwear.

"Are you hungry?" Clark's voice broke through her thoughts, and she looked up at him as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and started to look around for his socks.

"Hmm?"

He smiled gently, "Are you hungry? I thought we'd go get some breakfast. I don't know about you but I'm starving."

She looked down at her coffee mug and took another sip, "I could eat, I guess."

"You guess?" he asked in an amused voice, as he continued to look for his socks amongst the clothing on the floor. He pulled aside a pile of it and found one of them, caught under Lois' shirt from the night before.

"Yeah Clark," she shrugged, "I'm not really a breakfast person. Generally I only drink coffee."

"That's not very healthy."

"Well, we can't all have Martha Kent cooking for us, now can we? I strongly suspect that if I had your mother cooking me breakfast in the morning that I would want to eat," Lois smiled indulgently, watching as he found his other sock on top of the dresser next to the opened box of condoms and suddenly she was reminded of what she had to do. This would only be harder on both of them if they drew it out.

Clark picked up the last sock and leaned back against the dresser to put his now found clothing onto his feet. "So did you want to then? Go to breakfast I mean."

"I was kind of hoping I could get some more sleep actually," she took a gulp of her coffee and went back to avoiding eye contact.

Clark straightened up, socks now on his feet, and stared at Lois a moment before nodding his head, understanding what he had seen in her eyes now, "So this is how we're doing this then."

"Doing what, Clark?" she sighed. In reality, she knew exactly what he was talking about but also knew that the longer she played stupid, the shorter it would take Clark to give up on her and move on.

The fact of the matter was that what they had done had, in her mind, completely confused their relationship. At the end of the day, she was Lois, he was Clark and, while they tolerated each other-and now, undeniably, had a large amount of sexual chemistry running between them- they didn't like each other. Besides that, Lois Lane was a woman who was going places, both literally and figuratively, and she did not want to issue herself a pair of cement shoes to hold her down from wherever she might end up.

Smallville was good to visit, but ultimately, she couldn't live here. Clark on the other hand, was meant to stay in a small town, raise children and very likely take over the family farm.

Somehow Lois couldn't see herself doing that.

A little voice in her head had been asking her all week why exactly she was thinking so long term and what had come as an answer had been frightening; despite their differences, Lois could see herself building a life with Clark. As much as she would like to deny it, what they had done last night had been much more than sex and she knew it.

She took the last gulp of her coffee and stared down into the empty mug. It was too late for thinking about this though as she had already made a decision regarding the state she was going to leave her and Clark's relationship.

They couldn't be friends anymore.

She did not want to take the time to re-define herself at this late point in the game. Too much of her had been invested in this town, in her job, and in the Kent's to let it all slip from her grasp so easily; she would always come back to Smallville but it would never be her home and the sooner she made everyone around her realize it, the better. With this in mind, she turned to leave the closet and get herself some more coffee.

"This!" Clark crossed his arms angrily, uncrossing them as he walked across the closet and followed Lois into the bedroom. "You're doing exactly what you did last night and ignoring everything that happened between us!" He caught up with her in the bedroom and grabbed her arm, swinging her around towards him.

"Let me go, Clark," her eyes flashed angrily and he was glad. Emotion of any kind was better than no emotion at all and that's what he knew he had been getting from Lois.

He dropped her arm, willing her to stay put so they could talk about this before she shut down again and threw him out.

"Now," she sat her coffee mug on the small table next to the doorway, "Let's get one thing straight Smallville; last night was great, but it was just a one-time thing. There is no us, there will never be an us and what's more, I think it would be a really bad idea for you and I to try for an us. Because you and I? We're just too different."

Clark nodded his head slowly, "So that's it then? We're just going to forget it happened?"

Lois shrugged, "As far as I'm concerned, nothing happened last night."

They starred at each other, Lois, willing Clark to let it go and leave; Clark, willing Lois to acknowledge what she had felt, even if it hadn't been as deep or as immediate as what he had felt.

From outside the apartment, Chloe reached for the door knob and twisted, letting herself in the unlocked door and looking around cautiously for signs of either Clark or Lois. She sighed. Perhaps it hadn't been the most advanced plan, but at least it had been a plan. Her cousin and her best friend had had to work whatever it was between them out and fast because Chloe had been getting sick of being the referee. She closed the door and entered the kitchen, putting her unused keys to the apartment into her purse and walking towards the closet door.

It was so quiet, for a moment she thought maybe she had failed and neither her cousin nor Clark had gotten locked in the closet, least of all together. She placed her purse on the kitchen table and started as she took in the sight of her cousin, clad only in a bathrobe and slippers, and Clark, fully dressed, standing apart from each other in what clearly was the aftermath of a fight. She sighed. Not only had they gotten out of the closet-although Clark had had a hand in that if the broken doorknob was any indication-but they were still arguing.

"Okay," she looked at the couple, "What'd I miss?"

Lois drew a breath and looked Clark in the eye, willing her brain to take over and shut out any emotion that might betray her, "Nothing, Chloe. You missed nothing."

Clark nodded his head, looking hurt but not saying a word, instead, looking away quickly and leaving the apartment.


	5. Chapter 6

**Part 6**

"What was that all about?" Chloe watched Clark as he left the apartment, clearly upset.

Lois averted her eyes and drew a breath, trying to forget that the last conversation with Clark had happened. She didn't want to hurt him, but it was necessary. In this case, the end would justify the means if it meant that he would get the idea out of his head that there was anything between them.

She just wished she didn't feel like her heart was breaking.

"Don't know," she said finally, taking a deep breath and sitting down on the bed heavily. Her movements shifted the sheets and the smell of Clark-sunlight and fresh air with a dash of the hot chocolate he drank instead of coffee-wafted up to her nose. She had to close her eyes to stop herself from crying.

Chloe sent her an incredulous look, oblivious to the emotional turmoil her cousin was currently battling, "Oh come on Lois! You were fighting with the guy and now he's left looking really unhappy. Now tell me what happened." She walked towards the closet door, "And while you're at it, do you want to explain to me how the doorknob miraculously came off the door?"

Lois shrugged her shoulders, inwardly picturing how the doorknob had broken and knowing that if she tried to talk she would probably burst into tears. She lay down on the bed and buried her head in the pillow that Clark had been using before he had gotten out of bed. It smelled like him and that was so unexpectedly comforting that she knew she wouldn't be washing the pillow cases anytime soon.

"Uh-huh," Chloe rolled her eyes, looking over and watching her cousin lay down on her bed, as she entered the closet. Her eyes scanned over the area, taking in first the care package she had left, then the messy closet and then…..her jaw dropped as she spotted the box of condoms she had slipped into the package as a joke.

The now opened box of condoms.

She gulped and a hot blush rose on her face; no wonder Clark had been so upset. Lois didn't take sex as seriously as he did for a number of reasons too complicated to get into but the fact remained that they had been fighting when Chloe had entered the apartment and that meant that something had happened between the time the box of condoms had been opened and this morning.

And she was fairly certain she knew exactly what it had been.

"Lois?" she called, walking over and picking up the box. "Would this have anything to do with why Clark left the way he did?"

Lois raised her head from the pillow long enough to watch as her cousin walked out of her closet, pulling herself together to respond to Chloe's question, "What are you talking about Chl.." she was cut off as Chloe raised the box in her hand so that Lois could see it, arched an eyebrow and smirked.

Chloe watched as Lois sighed deeply, blushed…..and then burst into tears.

"Oh Lois," Chloe immediately forgot her own amusement and went over to sit down on the bed. "What happened?"

Lois let out a choked laugh, tears falling liberally down her face and nose beginning to fill if her breathing was any indication. Chloe reached over for the tissue box and handed it to her cousin. She watched as Lois blew her nose and continued to fall apart into the pillow.

"You know, I put the condoms into the box as a joke," Chloe tried to lighten the mood. "I didn't actually expect you to use them….did you drink the alcohol too?" She was rewarded by another short laugh from her cousin followed by a stifled sob.

Chloe leaned over to the nightstand and opened the drawer, putting the condoms inside and closing it. She waited a moment, just letting Lois deal with whatever it was that she was dealing with. It wasn't like Lois to break down like this. She was a Lane and that kind of behaviour was frowned upon by her father. Indeed, of the two of the cousins, Lois had always been the strong one. It was weird how the tables were turned….

"So you guys had sex then," Chloe asked softly, finally, her words less of a question and more of a statement.

"I think the opened box of condoms and the state of the door to my closet has already established that fact," Lois sighed shakily and rolled onto her back, one hand resting itself on her stomach as she looked at her cousin.

"Do I want to ask how that happened?"

"Probably not but I'll tell you anyways. You locked us in the closet and we were fighting," Lois brought her hands up to wipe away the last of the tears. After her breakdown a numbness had set over her and for the life of her, she couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing. "One thing led to another…"

"Ah," Chloe smirked at her, pleased to see that Lois was pulling herself together. It wasn't right, after all, to interrogate a person in tears and this was one story she wanted all the details about. "That explains everything then. Should I be worried about leaving you two alone in rooms together now? I'm scared for the doors, Lo, let alone my eyes."

Lois drew a breath and shook her head negatively, "I really don't think that's going to be a problem."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, trying to mentally piece together the puzzle that was her cousin and her best friend's 'relationship,' "Things didn't work out then?"

"Again with the obvious statements. The fact that Clark stormed out of here like I had set dogs on him is an indication of the fact that we're not going to be voted 'Mr. and Mrs. Smallville' anytime soon." Lois looked at her pointedly and snorted, "It's for the best though, I think. The sex was good but we're no good for each other in every other respect."

Chloe's eyes widened and she shook her head to make sure she had just heard what she thought she heard, "I don't understand. You and he had sex in that closet," she pointed for added effect, "then you fought, I came into the apartment, he left and now you're crying. You never cry, Lois unless it's for a good reason, and Clark hasn't had sex since the early days of his relationship with Lana. He doesn't enter into a physical relationship with anyone unless he feels something for them and you haven't cried since Aunt Ella died so tell me why it's for the best that you and he don't work out?"

"It's better that I don't answer that," Lois sat up and swung her feet over the side of the bed.

"Why? And yes, you can and you will answer my question," Chloe insisted, standing up and Lois did the same.

"No I really can't," Lois crossed her arms. "Whatever happened in that closet stays in that closet. I refuse to let Clark believe that there's something here when there's not. I'm protecting him."

"Well you would be except that I know for a fact that you rejecting him for no reason is going to hurt more than your so called 'protection,'" Chloe said softly, crossing her arms too, "because the fact of the matter is that I know you feel something, just like he does."

Lois looked down at the floor, unable to make eye contact with her cousin for fear that she'd see right through her lies. Her cousin had to believe that she didn't feel anything for Clark and she wouldn't if she saw what was in Lois' eyes. She cleared her throat, "How long have you known me Chloe?"

"Do I have to answer that?" Chloe arched an eyebrow, growing irritated by Lois' lack of answers. Moreover, she was beginning to suspect why her best friend had shot out of the apartment as she was entering it earlier.

"A really long time," Lois looked up and shot her an adamant look. "Long enough to know how I feel about relationships."

Chloe sighed, remembering exactly why Lois had a more relaxed view about sex than Clark, or even herself. Sex could be walked away from and Lois had had to walk away from many places-and people-in her life. Relationships on the other hand were trickier, left more scars, and required a person to be in one place for an extended period of time. Lois Lane was not a stationary person, "You're afraid of commitment."

Lois nodded affirmatively, relieved that Chloe remembered. This would make things a lot easier to explain why she had rejected her best friend so easily, "Exactly. That's why what happened last night between Clark and I can't work in the long term. We might have great chemistry but eventually, one of us-probably me-is going to leave and you know Smallville, he's going to want more out of this than I have to give."

"But is that really true?" Chloe tried again, dissatisfied with Lois' surprisingly flaky answer. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she was afraid of something…

Lois looked at her as if she was insane, "Chloe. I can't stay here and he's going to want me to at least for a little while if I had decided to…."

"To what?" Chloe was sick of this. "Actually let your guard down for awhile? Be happy?"

Lois didn't answer.

Chloe let out a bitter laugh and shook her head. She didn't understand when Lois had become so unwilling to acknowledge her own feelings and emotions but she was willing to bet it was the General's work. Years of moving his daughters-especially Lois-around the world didn't exactly instil stick-to-itiveness in a girl, let alone the ability to recognize when she should be abandoning her flight-or-fight instincts and actually feel something real, "Let me guess? You told Clark all of this so he wouldn't pursue anything?"

Lois looked up at the ceiling and then back down, biting her lip and refusing to meet Chloe's eyes.

Chloe cleared her throat, anger rising up as her accusation, meant as a jest, proved true. She couldn't believe Lois had said those things to Clark…"That was a joke, Lois. Did you actually say those things to him?"

Seeing the truth in Lois' unspeaking face she uncrossed her arms and walked out of the bedroom, gathering her purse up from the kitchen table and swinging it onto her arm.

"Where are you going?" Lois sniffed quietly from the doorway out of the bedroom and Chloe was surprised to find herself happy to see her cousin struggling with what looked like more tears.

She drew a breath and tried to calm down although she couldn't remember a time that she had been this angry with anyone, let alone Lois. She hadn't been lying when she had told her earlier that Clark didn't take sex lightly. That's what made him so different than most guys. If he had had sex with Lois last night than that meant that he had opened himself to the possibility of loving Lois and if that was true…than that meant that it was Chloe's fault. She had been the one to encourage him to confront her cousin about what had happened the previous week and now he was apparently paying for it because Lois had chosen for some unknown reason to be utterly and completely cruel to Chloe's best friend.

Despite her earlier calming breath, her angry only grew.

She turned away and walked toward the door, "I'm going to fix what you did Lois and so help me, if you hurt him again like this than you're going to have to answer to me."

"Chloe, I don't feel anything for him," Lois said quietly, holding herself vulnerably and Chloe was taken aback. She had never seen her cousin like this. "I told you before, it would have been cruel to lie."

"Like you're doing now?" She looked at Lois, trying to decide if now was the right time to leave, and sighed. She had to deal with her feelings before she could deal with Clark's and she needed the time to do that. "Because I have news for you; despite what you might be telling yourself, I know you well enough to be able to tell you that you do have feelings for Clark. You wouldn't have lied to him otherwise, you wouldn't have even had sex with him because I know that you'd have been thinking about how your relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Kent would have been affected by you sleeping with their son for no reason. They're too important to you for that, and so is Clark." She cleared her throat and moved closer to the door. "I just hope that when you finally sort yourself out that Clark's still talking to you because if I were in his position, I wouldn't."

She took a breath. What she had just said to her cousin was harsh, but necessary. No one could help Lois but herself….and maybe Clark. "Look, I'll be back later. Just….think about what I said, okay?"

Lois watched as her cousin left the apartment in silence and it wasn't until the door closed that she allowed herself to drop the act and continue what she had started earlier. She moved back to the bedroom, laid down with her head on the pillow that still smelled like Clark and cried.


	6. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

"Clark?" Chloe called as she entered the Kent's barn. She looked around, taking in the fact that the barn appeared to be deserted. She turned to leave. Maybe Clark was in the house….

"I had a feeling you'd be coming out here after you were done with Lois."

Chloe jumped, startled by Clark's sudden appearance behind her and turned around again, "God, Clark. You scared me..."

He shrugged, a half-hearted smile on his face as he apologized, "I'm sorry."

He began to walk away from her, moving farther into the barn and beginning to climb the stairs to the loft. Chloe, not knowing what else to do, followed. She had a general idea of what Lois had said to him this morning but beyond that, she was working without a net and with very little information. They had had sex-something that Chloe knew was a marker to something more for Clark and something less for Lois-and that made the conversation was would be having with her best friend all the more complicated.

"Clark? Are you alright?" she asked softly, almost hesitantly, as they got to the top.

He sat down on the couch heavily, "I've been better. So how much did she tell you?"

"Enough to know that I should be feeling pretty bad right now for locking you both in that closet," Chloe said regretfully, approaching the couch and sitting down next to Clark, "I forced the….more difficult parts out of her but the opened box of condoms was what really tipped me off."

Clark let out a short and utterly depressing laugh, "Yeah. You really shouldn't have put those in the box, Chloe."

"Well it was a good thing I did," she smiled hesitantly. She still felt guilty; if she hadn't locked them in the closet, than none of this would have happened. Of course, her cousin and Clark would still be giving each other the silent treatment, but at least the illusion of friendship would still be there. As it was, she had seen enough in both of them to realize that they never would be friends again. She couldn't be positive but what she had seen thus far went deeper than that. Friends didn't hurt each other as much as the two of them had.

Lovers and soulmates did that.

She cleared her throat and continued, "Otherwise you might have more to worry about right now then figuring out why you did it in the first place. You might have had sex anyway and Lois could be pregnant right now so you see, Clark? The condoms were a good idea."

He shook his head, more tired now than when he had woken up. The shock of Lois denying that what had happened between them was more than just sex had taken more out of him than the sex itself, and hadn't been nearly as pleasurable, "It's just that we may not have even gone in that direction if they hadn't of been there."

"So…..what?" Chloe crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised incredulously, "Are you telling me that you and Lois had sex because the condoms made you do it?"

"No," he glared at her defensively, "I'm saying that they made us think about what we chose not to do last week and if they hadn't have been there maybe we would have made the same choices and stopped before anything happened. The locked closet helped too, I think. Lois…..has issues being honest with herself unless she absolutely has to and….the condoms and the locked door made her uncharacteristically open."

"You're preaching to the choir on that one," Chloe let out a snort. She knew exactly what he meant about Lois. Of course, Clark's situation was a tad more serious than any of the moments she had had with Lois but still, she could definitely relate. "If I had a dollar for each time that she's denied herself something not because she didn't want it, but because she'd convinced herself that it was better for everyone that she didn't want it, I'd be rich."

Clark nodded his head in agreement and looked down at his hands, "That's Lois I guess."

"Yeah," Chloe cleared her throat. "So you and she really….?"

Clark nodded, looking her in the eye and smiling sadly, "Yeah. And I wish I could be sorry it happened because she certainly appears to be, but I can't. I've never felt this way about anyone, not even Lana, and I'm not about to just write off the experience as a mistake when I know that these sorts of feelings shouldn't be ignored."

She winced, knowing that the next round of questioning was going to be awkward but she didn't care. Lois had not been forthcoming with details and to completely honest, even if she had, Chloe had been so angry at the time that she probably wouldn't have wanted to hear them anyway. Now, with Clark, she could ask them. Clark would be embarrassed, but she knew that he would at least answer the questions…

She cleared her throat and met his eyes mischievously, "I'm kind of curious though, Clark. If the condoms were what put the idea into your head in the first place, how did the sex thing actually come about?"

"I took your advice," Clark sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "And I went after her. I kissed her-that's how we got locked in the closet, the trash can she propped it open with slipped and the door shut- and then later, after we found your care package, she kissed me."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, "She kissed you?"

He nodded, "Yeah, but it was because she wanted to find out if last week was an anomaly or if there was actually something between us."

"And what did she say?"

He looked at her and shrugged, "She denied that she felt anything of course, but I could tell she did and so I dared her to kiss me just one more time to prove that there was really nothing there."

"Well, third time's the charm," Chloe tried to stifle a chuckle and failed.

Clark glared at her, "Stop making fun. This is serious."

"Sorry," she tried to rid herself of the smile she was currently sporting but only succeeded in downsizing it to a smirk. "So then what happened?"

"I don't know," his voice lowered and he sighed, "It was like something snapped inside her and suddenly all bets were off."

"So that was when you two…."

"Yeah."

She paused for a moment and then…. "So how was it?"

"It was great during…..but this morning was just…." He trailed off and looked embarrassed, remembering exactly how horrible this morning had been. He blamed himself to a certain extent for assuming that after one evening together that he and Lois' relationship would miraculously change. He had quite obviously been wrong and, while Lois was half of the problem, he was not holding himself unaccountable.

Chloe watched Clark's face and sighed. It was like Lana all over again times about five… She cleared her throat and asked the question she knew would embarrass him enough to break him out of his melancholy behaviour, "And everything was….working correctly? No problems?"

Clark's face whipped up to look at her, a hot blush suddenly covering his face, "Chloe!"

Chloe threw her arms up innocently. Embarrassment and anger were always better emotions to deal with than depression and sadness, at least where Clark was concerned. He brooded less when he was angry, "Well I'm sorry Clark, but you started this when you left Lois' apartment the way you did and now I'm curious. Is the reason why this isn't working out because of Lois, or is it you? I can't help you two unless I know. At the moment, I'm almost positive that this is mostly Lois' issue but you never know about these things. Besides, I listened when you had….problems….with Lana and now that you appear to be in another messed up relationship-this time with my cousin-I think I have a right to know what happened. Every last detail."

Clark didn't agree apparently because he shook his head and uncharacteristically clammed up. It wasn't that this was new behaviour from him it was just that he hadn't been so closed lipped around Chloe since she had found out his secret. She had become his confidante and in a lot of ways, his conscience.

"You know what?" He stood, frustrated and even more embarrassed now. "Let's just forget you ever found out about this. It's not important and Lois and I are done whatever it was we were doing. There will be no more sex and that is the end of the story. How it was or wasn't is not important."

Chloe pulled him back down to the couch, watching as he sat down again before crossing her arms and hitting him with her most stubborn look, "You talked to me once about this and yes, it is important. Whatever it is that happened last night between you and her has affected both of you greatly. Besides all that, she's my cousin. Now tell me Clark before I go find some red kryptonite and 'drug' you out of the information."

"Chloe, doesn't this fall into the realm of too much information?"

"That was before and I told you. I want to know because not only does this involve my cousin, but it involves my best friend," she met his eyes, noticing just how damaged he looked right now. Lois had taken no prisoners obviously, and Chloe hated how it made her best friend feel. She leaned back on the couch and sighed, "Now tell me. Were there any problems of the…." Chloe lowered her voice. "Alien variety, or are the problems simply emotional?"

Clark shook his head negatively, "I don't know. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was just that after…."

"…she decided to go AWOL on you emotionally," Chloe finished her sentence, nodding. "My guess is that she's scared."

"Well I figured that," he buried his face in his hands and groaned. "How did I let it get so out of control, Chloe? Just last week we couldn't stand each."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Do you really want an answer to that question?"

"Probably not but I'm willing to take any advice you have for me at this point."

Chloe sighed and shook her head, shooting him a half-smile, "I don't know what to tell you Clark. This isn't your fault; it's Lois'. She shouldn't have said what she did this morning. I mean, it's obvious that you have feelings for her. I don't want to tell you that she does though because I honestly don't know. I'd rather not speculate either because I have no idea how her head's working right now. You two kind of messed each other up and I don't know how to fix this."

He let out a humourless laugh, "You think?" He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. He was sick of talking. Chloe meant well but he really didn't' want to be going over this again with her. Experiencing it had been enough, "Look, I'm really tired and I think I'm going to go try to sleep for a few hours."

"Clark…."

"I appreciate the effort Chloe, but as you said, Lois and I have really messed each other up and at this point in time I'd just like to go to sleep and forget for awhile," he murmured, shaking his head as he moved toward the staircase. He paused at the top and looked back at her. "Maybe she's right. Maybe none of this should have happened. Not the kiss last week, not the kisses in the closet and certainly not the sex. I didn't believe it when Lois told me that but now? Maybe I'm starting to believe."

"Oh Clark wait….." she stood up and followed him, meeting him at the first landing and grabbing his arm. "Look, Lois says things all the time that she doesn't mean and I'm sure this time was just another instance of that."

"Maybe, Chloe," he shrugged his shoulders and gave her a small smile, "But I doubt it. If you had seen the look on her face when she said it, you'd know differently. She meant it and I don't know where that leaves us. We can't be friends anymore, but according to her we can't be anything else. And you know what the worst part is?"

He looked her in the eye and Chloe started at the emotion that was shining back at her. If she didn't know any better, she would say that Clark was in love with her cousin but she knew based upon what she had seen that neither was ready for it.

Clark drew a short breath and continued when Chloe didn't answer, "The worst part was that, as I was leaving her apartment, I looked back at the memories of the night before and realized that if given the choice of spending the night with her the way we did and feeling awful when she said what she said to me, or forgetting it happened entirely, I would gladly choose to feel awful. If given the choice, I would do it all over again because last night I felt something I've never felt before."

"And what was that?" Chloe asked quietly, knowing that his answer was probably going to break her heart.

He shook his head, not knowing how to describe it, "I don't know. Like everything was right with the world. She made me feel whole, like suddenly all the pieces of my life came together and I had the answer to why I'm here. I've always felt like an outsider but last night? I had a purpose, a meaning, and the funny part was that I wanted to fulfill it and not run from it. I've never really felt that way before."

He looked up at her and shook his head again, "I must be crazy. Is there even a word for that?"

"It'll get better, Clark, I promise you," Chloe put a hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a supportive manner, and watched him leave the loft. It wasn't until he had left the barn that she allowed herself to let out a harsh sigh, sitting down on the step closest to the landing and placing her face in her hands in frustration at the extremely messed up world that her cousin and her best friend lived in, "The word you're looking for is love, Clark. What you felt was love."


	7. Chapter 8

**Part 8**

**3 Months Later**

Lois looked around the apartment and sighed. She couldn't believe she was actually contemplating leaving Smallville.

"It's nice, isn't it?" the realtor asked, looking at Lois and smiling that convincing smile that all good realtors seemed to have. The General had recommended this woman but Lois for the life of her couldn't remember her name.

She smiled back because she didn't know what else to do and nodded, looking around the apartment again and mentally noting how much bigger it was than the apartment she currently lived in over the Talon. Lots of space was a good thing. Metaphorically, it was painful, but physically, it was a good thing…..

She winced as the sounds of the busy street outside broke into her musings on space and its potential to make her hurt inside, "Is it always so noisy?"

The realtor's smile faded a bit, "Well the location of the apartment must be put into perspective Ms. Lane. It's right downtown and only three floors from the street. A little noise is to be expected."

Lois nodded, "Yeah. I forgot about that." Currently they were within a ten minute walk from the Daily Planet, some of Metropolis' best museums, the biggest Mall in the state of Kansas, and the City's most expansive library. It wasn't near the Talon though, or the farm, or even Clark which she wanted to believe was a good thing.

Her heart told her differently though.

"The rent's quite reasonable for the location, too…"

Lois shook her head and looked at the other woman. Clearly she wasn't aware that she didn't care about all that. All that was important right now was removing herself from the town that, for the past three months, had reminded her daily of what she had done and what she had lost in doing so. Maybe it was selfish of her, but she didn't want to deal with that kind of pain anymore, or the guilt that came from inflicting the same pain back on Clark every time she saw him, or argued with him. She cleared her throat, "The rent's not a problem. I'm just worried about the noise. Was this the last apartment you had to show me?"

The realtor nodded, furrowing her brow in confusion. When General Sam Lane had called her and requested that she help his daughter find an apartment in downtown Metropolis she hadn't expected this hesitancy. Indeed, Ms. Lane had been detached throughout the entire experience, as if her mind was somewhere else. Her reactions to the apartments she had been shown had been apathetic, as if she didn't care just as long as she found something, "For today. You mentioned you wanted to look at some more apartments later this week?"

"Yes," Lois nodded, trying to look interested when all she really wanted to do was call this whole business off and go back to Smallville and her little apartment over the Talon. Circumstances and her own pride could not allow her that option though and so Lois continued to look for perfect apartments for her imperfect self, "What day do you think you could arrange it?"

"How's this Friday for you, in the morning?"

Lois shook her head and another wave of guilt went through her. She sighed and tried to put it out of her mind, "No good. I have an appointment I can't get out of. Is the afternoon alright?"

"Sure," the realtor murmured, and Lois watched as she took a date book out of her purse, opened it, and wrote down the information on the appropriate day. "Did you want to narrow down the search for me with some desirable details so that we can find what you're looking for faster?"

"Quiet," Lois shrugged, crossing her arms protectively around herself. Finding quiet from the world around her was easy. Finding it within herself was another story entirely but she prayed that the former would help with the latter. "I need a quiet place but located somewhere downtown so I guess that means I'm looking for something at least ten floors up. Spacious hopefully, with a bedroom and a study. I'm going back to school at some point and I don't like to have my work space in my bedroom. Oh, and money's no object. Just find me a quiet, well-located, large space and I'll be happy."

The realtor nodded, jotting the specifics down in her date book, "Something higher up in this building maybe?"

Lois looked around and nodded. She liked the look of the apartment and the location; it was only the noise that made her want to look elsewhere, "Maybe. You're right about the location but like I said, it needs to be higher up and quieter than this."

"Alright," she closed her date book and smiled. "That should help narrow down the search significantly. I'll see you Friday then?"

"Yep. Looking forward to it," Lois smiled a fake smile back and followed the realtor out of the apartment.

* * *

"So how did the apartment hunting go?" Chloe voice asked over the cell phone that Lois held to her ear.

"Good. I found one I liked but the noise was an issue. The realtor's going to try to find one like it either a few floors up or in another building in the downtown area."

"How was the rent?"

Lois shrugged, her eyes on the road as she drove. Her eyes shifted slightly to take in the endless rows of cornfields. This part of the Smallville experience she would not miss; being out in the country wore on her in its ability to make her feel completely detached from the rest of the world. She also hadn't been able to think of anything but Clark when she looked at cornfields since their infamous meeting which made going somewhere without cornfields all the more attractive, "Alright. Does it matter?"

"For most people it does."

"Chloe, at this point I could care less how much it costs just as long as I get out of Smallville."

"You hate it that much?"

Lois drew a breath and sighed, not sure of how to put this without sounding as if she was fleeing the town like some kind of criminal on the run. This explanation was probably closer to the truth than Chloe (or anyone for that matter) was going to get though, "It's not that I hate it. I mean, yes, it's small and weird stuff tends to happen there, but I don't hate it. I just...can't live here anymore. I'm ready to leave."

"And your reasons for leaving wouldn't have anything to do with a certain farmboy, would they?"

Lois winced painfully and didn't answer. Indeed, her current relationship with Clark was one that she preferred not to dwell on for longer than she absolutely had to. This had proved to be impossible however, especially in the past few weeks when it seemed like he was always around whether it was in the Talon when she left her apartment, or simply when she went for a walk.

She was broken out her thoughts by her cousins voice though, "Lois, you're going to have to talk to him about what happened at some point. You can't keep ignoring each other."

"Ignoring each other!" Lois raised her voice incredulously, suddenly angry. After about a week of avoiding each other, she had tried to renew a friendship with Clark and had been met with only anger.

So she had tried harder. And failed.

The only conclusion that she could draw was that she had hurt Clark so much that anything less than what he thought they could be was an insult and for that reason, she had gone back to avoidance as a coping mechanism. The fact of the matter was that she didn't want to hurt him anymore than she already had and she could tell that her continued presence was doing so. Chloe and Mrs. Kent had made this new mission of hers near impossible though by trying to 'help' the situation with 'alone' time between she and Clark.

She cleared her throat, trying to forget their latest attempt-a dinner at the Kent's that had ended in she and Clark yelling at each other for some inconsequential thing. It had been so inconsequential that she didn't even remember what it had been about…."We're not ignoring each other Chloe. You and Mrs. Kent have made sure that we can't."

"Yeah, but maybe if you just…."

Lois shook her head and tried desperately to keep her calm voice together. Clark had made it perfectly clear that he wanted all or nothing from a relationship with her and she knew that she didn't have that in her to give him. This made any debate over their continued estrangement pointless. Now if only Chloe and Mrs. Kent could understand that….."Chloe, would you stop? It's not going to work…."

Chloe rolled her eyes as she listened to Lois tell her over the phone (yet again) that her attempts at getting she and Clark to talk were out of the question. It was possible, they just didn't know it yet.

"Look, every time you do this, he and I just end up in an argument and it gets worse. I don't know about Clark, but I would like to be able to have a civil conversation with him at some point and if we keep communicating the way we have been, that's not going to happen. It's better for all of us if he and I don't even try being friends. We're not friends anymore and anything else is out of the question because I don't have enough of me that I can give him. It's over, Chloe, and no amount of talking is ever going to fix it."

"How do you know that, Lois?" Chloe flopped herself down on her couch, looking around her apartment and sighing into the phone. "How do you know that you don't have enough of yourself to give him? He has feelings for you and I know you have feelings for him too, so why can't it work?"

"Well I don't know, Chloe," Lois said sarcastically, turning her car into the parking lot behind the Talon and parking. Chloe just didn't get it and she was through trying to explain it to her. She took solace in the fact that she was going to be gone from Smallville within the next month if all went the way she planned.

And not a moment too soon in her opinion….

She turned off the car, "It might be because we haven't really done much other than argue for the past three months. I've told you this before, but Clark and I are too messed up to make this work. Hell, we can't even be in the same room without jumping at each other's throats…"

"I don't see how this is any different than what you did before…"

"It is, Chlo! I just….I don't want to hurt him and when we fight now, it's different than before. There is no banter involved anymore. No….light-hearted teasing. It's all knives and sharp words. I've never seen him talk to anyone the way he talks to me and I've never had to talk to someone the way I've had to talk to him in the past three months."

"Well, maybe you both wouldn't treat each this way if…."

"If what?" Lois grabbed her purse, slipping it over her shoulder and opening the car door. "If we just got together and conveniently forgot the way I practically kicked him out of my apartment three months ago, or the reason why I did it? I suck at commitment, Chloe, and you know it. He'd know it too if he took a good hard look instead of ignoring why I chose to end it. What you're proposing we do is not an option."

"You could always apologize to him. Maybe tell him exactly how you feel about him. I mean you're basically lying to the guy, Lois…."

"But I'm not," she sighed, clicking the button on her key chain to lock her car before making the short trek into the Talon. "Chloe, I don't feel the same way he does. I mean, yes, I feel something but I'm not sure that it's enough for what he deserves from a woman. Plus, we would have killed each other if we had tried for anything more than sex and worse, we would have killed whatever relationship I have with his parents. I know that's not the most compelling argument but there it is.

"All we had was one night, two if you count the fake date you made us go on with you. Two evenings, one of which was not the least bit logical, are not a good basis for a relationship. I knew this from the beginning, he didn't, and one day he's going to thank me for doing him the favour of showing him early enough that I was right, and he was wrong. End of discussion."

Chloe bit her lip and tried not to say what she wanted to say; that Clark was in love with her and the reason he had been talking to her the way he had been over the past three months had nothing to do with hurting her and everything to do with the fact that every time Lois was around he was reminded of what he couldn't have because she was too stubborn to admit that she might harbour feelings even remotely close to his own. She knew that she couldn't be the one to break this news to Lois. Clark had to tell her exactly how he felt, and what he wanted from her.

And Lois had to do the same.

"Chloe, are you still there?"

Chloe cleared her throat and sighed, "Yeah, Lois, I'm still here."

"Good," Lois walked into the Talon and headed straight for the stairs, spotting Clark and Mrs. Kent at the coffee bar and knowing enough from past experience that she needed to get upstairs before they saw her. She was tired and right now all she wanted to do was go to bed. "What are you doing on Friday? I'm in Metropolis and I was wondering if you wanted to do something."

"Sure," Chloe murmured into the phone, almost happy that the subject of Lois and Clark's twisted relationship of denial and lies had passed, "There's this great club that just opened up down the street and I've been wanting to try it. You want to go?"

Lois rummaged through her purse for her keys, finding them and slipping them into the lock before opening the door, "Actually, I was kind of hoping for something a little more low-key. It's been a long time since you and I had a movie night together..."

Chloe smiled into the phone. Now there was a plan she could get on board with. It HAD been several months since she and Lois had had a girl's night, "Yeah, sure Lois. How's 7 or so for you? I'll order a pizza and you can bring the ice cream…"

"Sounds like a plan," Lois closed the door and sat her purse down on the kitchen counter, sitting down on a stool to finish her telephone conversation, glad that the subject of Clark had passed.

Chloe listened to the silence that followed her cousin's last statement and frowned. She had been getting a feeling from Lois all week that something was wrong and they had never been so clear as when she didn't say a word. "Are you going to be okay?" Chloe asked after a beat.

"Yeah," Lois responded in a feigned confusion. She knew she was upset. Hell, she knew why too and that reason was currently downstairs in the Talon talking to his mother. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Chloe shrugged her shoulders, crossing her arms as she sat on her couch, "I don't know. It's just a feeling I've gotten from you. You haven't been the same since it happened."

"I'm fine," Lois said defensively and then took a breath as she realized how forceful she sounded, almost like she was trying to convince herself. "I'm fine."

"Right. Cause you seem fine…"

"Chloe, just leave it alone, okay? I'm fine. I just need to get out of this town."

"Alright," Chloe still sounded unconvinced and Lois prayed that she would somehow get convinced before she made it to Metropolis for their movie night on Friday. "I'll see you Friday then. Don't forget the ice cream, okay? If we're going to do a movie night, we're going to do it right. Pizza, ice cream and a healthy dose of eye candy."

Lois let out a laugh, relief at the changed subject making her giddy, "Who will we be ogling this time?"

"I haven't decided yet. It's a tie between Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp so far…"

"Johnny Depp," Lois made the decision succinctly. "I've wanted to re-watch 'Chocolat' for awhile now and I want to do it with you."

"Johnny Depp it is then. I could do with a 'Chocolat' fix myself," Chloe grinned into the phone. "Just don't forget the ice cream."

Lois smiled into the phone, "I won't. Love you, Chloe."

"Love you too, Lois."

Lois listened as Chloe hung up the phone before doing the same, sighing as she turned her phone off and sat it on the counter. Chloe didn't know how hard this was for her to just ignore how she felt. She strongly believed that if she let herself she could easily fall in love with Clark Kent and this was exactly why she had lied to him the morning after their night in the closet. She could picture herself with him and in that picture, eventually, she saw herself falling prey to her own unpredictability and leaving a disappointed Clark in her wake.

Hate she could handle from him but disappointment was another story entirely.

A knock on her door tore her from her thoughts though, and she stood, drawing a breath as she walked towards it, and opened it softly.

She pasted a smile on her face as she saw who it was, "Mrs. Kent. Come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I saw you come up here and realized that Jonathon and I haven't seen you all week. I thought I'd come see how you've been." Martha Kent asked, stepping into the apartment and drawing Lois into a hug. "How was Metropolis?"

"Alright. Tiring though but Metropolis always is," Lois shrugged, letting Martha hug her and returning the sentiment, "I've got another meeting with the realtor this Friday but I think I've almost nailed down an apartment."

"So you're really going to do it?" Martha looked at Lois sadly.

The younger women nodded, "I think it's best for everyone, you know? And it's not like I'll be far away. I can still come and see you and Mr. Kent fairly easily."

"Yes, but you'll still be gone," Martha said with a cheerless smile. "I'm not going to lie to you, Lois, we're going to miss having you around. It hasn't been the same since you quit last month. And now with you leaving for Metropolis, I just don't know what we're going to do..."

"Well, I really don't have to work right now, do I?" Lois took the first subject what Martha had said to her and ran with it, sitting down on the stool she had vacated moments ago and motioning to Mrs. Kent to take the other. It was true that Lois didn't have to work, at least for awhile anyways; she had turned 21 a month ago and promptly discovered that her mother had left her and Lucy quite a lot of money in trust. While she had gotten the full amount, Lucy wouldn't be receiving her portion until she turned 21. Lois could definitively say that that was a good thing; Lucy still had a lot of growing up to do before she was ready for the amount of money her mother had left them both.

"No, I guess not," Martha shrugged, "But I thought you enjoyed the work…."

"I did," Lois nodded in what she hoped was a convincing manner, "And the company too. I guess I just wanted some time to myself." She drew a breath, reflecting on how well this 'time to herself' thing was working out. She didn't get out of bed until noon, she had read through her entire book collection, and two nights ago she had found herself staying up until 5 in the morning watching a 'Sex and the City' marathon on HBO. The last item on that list wasn't particularly extraordinary unless you considered the fact that the marathon had started at 9 AM the previous day which meant that she had pretty much camped out on the couch for almost 24 hours.

Added to her list of problems she had faced whilst enjoying her newly found life of leisure was the fact that she and Clark had taken to actively avoiding each other. This meant that if Lois was going to leave the apartment, she had to make sure she was doing it when he wasn't in the Talon and neither was Chloe or Mrs. Kent.

Mr. Kent had quickly made the assumption that something had happened between his son and Lois (although Lois knew for a fact that he didn't suspect the truth) and that neither wanted anything to do with the other but Mrs. Kent and Chloe were slower on the uptake. They had both been trying to fix the problem posed by Lois and Clark's now non-existent relationship since it happened.

Neither appeared ready to give up anytime soon either.

Martha was more subtle about it, inviting Lois for dinners where she and Clark would have to be civil to each other in the hopes that this forced civility would eventually lead to at least talking to each other willingly. This was not the case though; instead, Lois had had to leave immediately after dinner once because she had been so uncomfortable being around him and not telling him how she really felt. The second time she had let Martha talk her into dinner had been the worst though. Indeed, they hadn't made it past attempted pre-dinner conversation and the shouting match had been so bad that she had left before the meal had even been served.

Chloe had stopped actively trying to get them alone together after she had heard about the second dinner at the Kent farm, instead choosing to place herself as an intermediary between the two in any conversation she get both of them in with her-mostly at the Talon as this was the place that she was most likely to be able to get them in one place at the same time.

Suffice it to say, whenever she knew Chloe was in town, she either left the apartment early and came home late, or she didn't leave the apartment at all.

Martha sighed, looking at Lois hard before laying a hand on hers. Something was off with the woman that she had begun to think of as a daughter. She knew her son and Lois weren't talking now after months of not getting along and she didn't know why. She suspected, however, that it was her son that was at the root of the problem that was currently causing Lois to behave as if something was gravely wrong and she wanted to know why, "Lois, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she quickly took her hand away and stood, trying to find a gentle way to get Martha Kent to leave. The state of her non-existent but greatly wanted relationship with Clark was not something she wanted to talk about with his mother. Furthermore, she was in no mood to talk about any of this with anyone at the moment.

As it was, she had been on the edge of reason by the time she had entered her apartment that afternoon. The prospect of change in her movement from Smallville to Metropolis was unexpectedly emotional and her conversation with Chloe hadn't been great either. All she wanted was to go to bed with a cup of tea and a good book.

The prospect of a good cry, something that had become a regular occurrence for her since she and Clark had had their evening together, was also something she probably wouldn't mind embracing either. Indeed, tears had become a good way for her to cope with what had happened and she found herself indulging frequently, "Why do people keep asking me that? I'm fine…."

"Well, you haven't been yourself lately," Martha murmured, noticing that Lois couldn't quite look her in the eye.

Lois made a point of turning away from Martha in the hopes that she would lose any hope of getting through to her and leaving, "Yeah, well, as I said before, I'm fine so you don't have to worry. I'm just restless. I've had enough of Smallville, you know?"

Martha stood up, nodding her head as she realized that this was probably the most information that she was going to get out of Lois right now. The younger woman's rough statement told her more than enough about her current state of mind anyways, "Well, you know where I am if you want to talk. We haven't seen you at the farm lately and Jonathon and I would love it if you came for dinner on Thursday."

She watched as the younger woman battled with herself and threw the only words she knew would convince Lois to take her up on the offer, "Clark's on a field trip with one of his classes all week and he won't be there, I promise. I don't know if that helps or not..."

"Why would I care if Clark's there or not?" Lois shrugged, appreciating the sentiment nonetheless. Mrs. Kent knew more than she was letting on, she thought, but Lois wasn't prepared to put money on that. This could just be Martha being nice and she couldn't risk exposing her feelings needlessly and getting Mrs. Kent and Chloe's hopes up, "But sure. I'm up for a home-cooked meal with you and Mr. Kent."

"Good," Martha smiled, satisfied with Lois' answer. Maybe Thursday she could coax the reason why Lois had been acting so oddly out of her…"We'll see you Thursday then?"

"With bells on," Lois smiled back, watching as Martha left. The smile dropped from her face as soon as the door closed and she let out a deep sigh. She was sick of acting like she didn't care and the only cure for it was the truth, a truth that she couldn't admit because it was potentially far more lethal to Clark than lies were at this point.

At the end of the day, the lies would protect him when the truth could not because, in the end, she knew she didn't have it in her to give him what he needed.

She got up from the stool and moved towards her bedroom. That cry suddenly sounded like a better option than tea and a book…


	8. Chapter 9

**Part 9 **

Lois entered the same apartment building she had been in the day before and drew a calming breath. It had not been a good morning. Indeed, the evening before hadn't been great either and the negative energy had unfortunately transferred into today.

She had gone to the Kent's for dinner last night and had spent the evening catching up with Jonathon and Martha. The first part had been nice, fun even, and both of the elder Kent's had done their very best to cheer her up from whatever it was they thought was wrong with her.

Of course, this gesture only made Lois feel more guilty and that had lead to her trying to explain why she was leaving Smallville. Since they weren't aware of what had happened between she and Clark and she had no inclination whatsoever to relate the debaucherous tale to Clark's parents, it had been an awkward conversation. To make matters worse, right after dinner Clark had come home early from his field trip.

One thing had led to another and before Lois knew it, she had been rushing out of the house to her car, apologizing to Mr. and Mrs. Kent for the argument about nothing that she and Clark had inevitably gotten into, and for missing dessert.

Martha had even made her favourite chocolate fudge cake too…..

"Ms. Lane?"

She cocked her head towards the voice, interrupted from her thoughts, and turned her lips up in what she hoped was a welcoming smile as the realtor followed her into the building.

"I'm sorry I'm a bit late," Lois apologized, "My appointment went a little longer than I thought it would."

"That's no trouble," the realtor smiled in reply, "I just got here myself. I was able to find you an available apartment on the 15th floor of the building. Two bedrooms, a spacious living area, a balcony……it's a little bigger than the one I showed you yesterday but you said you wanted that. Were you still interested in looking at it?"

Lois nodded, "Definitely. That sounds just about perfect."

"Excellent," the Realtor brought out a card key and swiped it to open the outer door to the elevator, letting them into the building. "I really think you're going to like it. Almost the entire wall of the living room is windows and the apartment is on the side of the building that receives the most sun. You'll find that…."

Lois tuned the Realtor out as this point, focussing as she was on simply keeping herself from falling apart completely. That feeling of hopelessness that she had been having since she had decided to leave Smallville was creeping up on her again and she knew that it was only going to get worse before it got better. The fact of the matter was that she had to leave and there was no other option.

"Ms. Lane?" the Realtor touched her shoulder gently, ushering her out of the elevator that had somehow arrived and taken them up 15 floors without Lois noticing. She took a set of keys out of her pocket and opened to locks to the apartment.

Lois looked around her surroundings and smiled sadly. The sun shone brightly through the windows that did indeed cover the entire wall of the living room. The kitchen was big enough for her to cook in but small enough that it gave off an air of coziness. In short, it was everything she had wanted and more.

She nodded her head and pursed her lips, "Can I see the bedrooms?"

"Sure," the Realtor led Lois into a room at the end of the hallway. The room itself was double the size of Lois' bedroom above the Talon and, after a peek around the room, she realized that the closet was bigger too. Since Clark and her little 'interlude' three months ago, closet's had suddenly gained new importance in Lois' mind. "The second bedroom is a little bit smaller but I remember you saying that you wanted to use it as a  
study?"

Lois nodded, "That's right."

The realtor led her into the next room, "Will this accommodate your needs, do you think?"

She drew a breath and nodded, "Um-hm. Let me just check the bathrooms for any major flaws but I think we have a winner."

"Excellent."

Lois turned out of the room and entered the master bathroom, taking in the fact that it had a jacuzzi tub and a separate shower stall. She would be a fool to turn down a place like this…..

"I'll take it," she murmured.

* * *

"So you found one then?" Chloe asked into the phone.

"Yep. And you're going to love the location Chlo. It's like, 3 blocks from the Planet."

"Seriously?"

"Um-hm. And about a ten minute walk from the library, tons of museums, the Mall…."

"Need a roommate?" Chloe laughed, half-serious.

Lois chuckled nervously into the phone and Chloe's smile turned into a frown, "Okay, Lois. What's wrong?"

Lois raised an eyebrow, "I just laughed Chloe. That normally indicates that something is right, not wrong."

"Lois, I can read you like a book," Chloe crossed her arms and pushed herself away from her computer, standing up. She had been working on a paper when Lois had called but knew from the tone of the conversation that she couldn't write and talk at the same time. "And you haven't been yourself for awhile now. Furthermore, that 'laugh' of yours was hiding something else. I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what it is that's bothering you but please, save me the investigative journalism and just tell me."

She listened as the phone went silent, "Lois? You still there?"

"Yeah Chloe," Lois murmured and Chloe could swear she heard tears in her cousin's voice. "Can we talk about this later though? There is something going on but you're going to have to be sitting down for it."

"I can sit down now…."

"You could," Lois said impatiently, "But I think this is something you need to be told in person, not over the phone."

"Okay Lois. You're really scaring me now," Chloe furrowed her brows, wracking her brain for ideas as to what her cousin could be talking about. She mentally went over the possibilities, her mind touching on all the worst things she could think of.

"I don't mean to," Lois sniffed back the impending tears that she had been fighting off all morning. She had an apartment now and she was leaving Smallville and Clark Kent. That would solve her problems-at least for the moment.

Chloe opened her mouth to say something more when her phone beeped, indicating she that she had an incoming call, "I'll be right back Lo. I have another call. Don't hang up, alright?"

"Alright…."

Chloe switched to the other line, "Hello?"

"Chloe," Clark's voice came onto the phone and Chloe could immediately tell that something was very wrong.

"What's wrong, Clark?"

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm at my apartment, why?"

"Can you….can you um, come to Smallville tonight?"

"Clark, what…..? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine but….this morning my Dad had a heart attack and…the doctor's are saying that it doesn't look like he's going to make it through the night." She heard him draw a shaky breath. "I don't even know why I called you. This isn't your problem but…."

"Clark, it's okay," Chloe murmured, shocked. "I'll be there as soon as I can just….hang in there, alright?"

"Yeah," he said quietly and she could tell he was holding back tears. "Thanks Chloe."

Chloe heard him hang up and paused a moment before switching back to the line that Lois was on, "Lois?"

"Yeah Chlo?"

"How far are you from my apartment right now?"

"About five minutes, why?"

"There's been a change of plans. That was Clark on the other line. You and I have to go back to Smallville immediately. Mr. Kent had a heart attack this morning."

"Oh my God," Lois's tears were immediately put to a stop as shock at Chloe's news took over. "How is he?"

"Not good," Chloe cleared her throat, "Clark said that….that they don't expect him to make it through the night."

Lois stilled, trying desperately to keep her eyes on the road and complete the task of getting herself to Chloe's apartment in one piece. They needed to get to Smallville as soon as possible, "I'll be right there."

Chloe nodded, "I'll see you in a few, Lois."

Clark sat by his father's bedside, numbly listening to the heart monitor and breathing tubes they had him hooked up to. He looked over at his Mom, who had been keeping vigil at his father's bedside all day and who didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon.

"Mom? I was thinking about running over to the Talon for some coffee and sandwiches. Did you want something?"

Martha Kent looked over at her son and shook her head, "I'm not hungry."

"Mom, you have to eat something. You didn't even get breakfast this morning….." he winced as he remembered why. Indeed, his father had gone out to the barn for a moment and when he hadn't come in for breakfast like he said he was going to, Clark had gone out and found him unconscious on the barn floor. The rest of the morning had been a bit of a blur as the ambulance had arrived to take his father away, his mother riding along with him. Clark had followed in the truck but for the life of him could not remember the trip. His own stomach was beginning to protest the lack of nourishment it had had that day and he had gotten breakfast, so he could only imagine how his mother's must be faring.

Martha smiled tearfully at him and sighed, "Just some coffee then. I don't think I could eat anything now."

Clark stood up and breathed deeply, placing a comforting hand on his mother's shoulder and squeezing, "Alright. I won't be long."

Martha simply nodded; not looking away from her husband as she placed a hand on her son's and squeezed back.

He stepped out of the room and sighed, assessing the situation as he began to walk down the hallway towards the elevators. He couldn't believe this was happening…

"Clark!" Chloe's voice called from behind him and he turned in time to receive the hug that she immediately gave him.

"That was fast," he murmured into her ear, his eyes closed. He let her go and opened them, looking her in the eye.

"It always is when I drive."

Clark looked up and his eyes narrowed, "Lois."

Lois cleared her throat and crossed her arms. She and Clark's problems had no place here today and so she chose to take the high ground and not respond to the tone he had just greeted her with, "How is he?"

Clark drew a breath and looked at her, feeling the uncomfortable distance that had become a common accoutrement to any conversation between he and Lois settle over the room. "Not good. Did Chloe tell you?"

Lois nodded, crossing her arms, "Yeah. Is your Mom with him now?"

"Yeah…." He tilted his head in the direction of the room. "She's with him. She won't leave his side actually."

"How are you doing?" Chloe cut into the small conversation and Clark breathed a sigh of relief.

"Better than my Mom," he murmured, gracing Chloe with a sad smile, "I was actually on my way over to the Talon to pick up some food and coffee for her. As I said, she hasn't left his side all day except to go to the bathroom. She's says she's not hungry but…."

"…you're going to get her some food," Lois finished his sentence for him and watched as he nodded.

"Yeah. She's got to keep her strength up and I know Dad would chew me out if I didn't make sure she ate something."

"Well, why don't I go with you then?" Chloe said.

"And I'll keep your Mom company," Lois looked at him comfortingly.

Clark nodded, "We won't be long. Let her know that."

"I will," Lois assured him. "Just do what you have to do. I'll be here."

"Okay," Clark sighed, running a hand through his hair and turned back towards the elevators, Chloe following him as Lois went into the hospital room and closed the door.

He and Chloe were in the parking lot, their trip made in solemn silence, when a piercing ring suddenly made Clark drop to his knees.

"Clark!" Chloe cried, watching as her friend dropped to the ground in pain. She hurried around the car.

"We have to get to the caves," Clark groaned, his hands over his ears to muffle the sound. "Jor-El's calling me."

"Don't you need to go home first? You don't have the key…."

Clark shook his head negatively, "I'll run home and get it myself just…..meet me there, okay?"

Chloe nodded, "Alright."

He handed her the keys to the truck and she watched as he looked around. Satisfied that they were alone, he ran off in a blur.


	9. Chapter 10

**Part 10**

Clark drew an impatient breath as he entered the Kawatche caves, key to the Fortress in hand. Chloe would be another fifteen minutes getting to him by his calculations and, while he was sure that anything Jor-El would say to him would be interesting for her to know first hand, he was almost positive by the way that he had been abruptly 'summoned' that whatever his biological father had to say to him was probably something he would want to share only select details of.

He had been called in much the same way a month ago, and the meeting had been such that he hadn't told anyone but his mother that it had even occurred. Indeed, it appeared that Jor-El had decided that it was high time for him to 'fulfill his destiny' and learn more about his heritage. The only problem with this idea was that it involved leaving Smallville for an unspecified amount of time and Clark, at this point in his life, was unwilling to do this. Not only did his parents need him, but he was still holding out hope that he and Lois could patch things up and he knew that him leaving was not going to lend itself positively to this healing process.

Since that evening in Lois' closet, things had only gotten worse between them. At first, she had appeared to literally want to forget that anything had happened and had even gone so far as to act how she had before the 'date' when they had been quasi-friends, no more, and no less.

He had been so angered by this that he hadn't let her keep up the act, instead, acting uncharacteristically hostile around her and picking fights about nothing to stop her from being able to live the illusion she appeared to want to live. It had worked better than he had hoped and soon she had been joining in, forcing whatever communication they would have to be spoken in anger, his words telling her with every syllable how frustrated he was that she wouldn't admit how she actually felt, and hers returning the sentiment with reasons why what he wanted couldn't happen.

Of course only he and Lois understood what they were telling one another. The rest of the world only saw that they couldn't be in the same room together anymore without sniping at each other, their words having long passed the line of being banter and now falling into the category of hurtful and mean.

Clark tried to put these interactions out of his mind though as he came to the wall and put in the code combination that would unlock it, waiting for it to slide open before entering the chamber hidden behind. He waited for the door to close, having learned his lesson that, if he was going to the Fortress, he should not leave his keys in the lock so to speak, so that anyone could follow him. Lex, after all, still kept an eye on these caves, and although he had stopped actively trying to find out what Clark was hiding from the world, Clark wouldn't put it past him to choose today to come to the caves and find out exactly what Clark was.

He put the key in the lock and waited as the familiar icy wind and white light came over him, transporting him north. When the feeling of movement passed, he stepped into the Fortress, waiting for his father to explain why he was here. He didn't have to wait long.

"Kal-El."

"Yes Jor-El?" he replied into thin air, having long since put aside his feelings of stupidity at talking to a voice coming from nowhere.

"It is time, my son."

"Time for what?"

"Time for you to leave behind your human life and become what it is you are meant to be."

Clark ran a hand through his hair and tried to calm himself sufficiently. He had spent too much time arguing with his biological father over the years, and he had learned early enough that it never got him anywhere. Somehow, Jor-El always got him to do what he wanted him to do and Clark had found himself, more and more, choosing the path of least resistance and doing what he asked without argument.

This was a different story though.

"Not now," he said after a moment. "My father…..he had a heart attack tonight and he may not live…." A thought suddenly popped into Clark's head, "Did you have anything to do with that!"

"I did not cause the sudden illness that has struck your father, but it is within my power to do something about it."

"So you'll just let him die then?" Clark asked, anger and sadness overwhelming him.

"No." Jor-El's voice continued. "Jonathon Kent will live, but….."

"…But only if I do as you say I should…" Clark finished in a resigned voice. He drew in a breath, incredulity that this was happening overwhelming him. He had no choice; his father had to live and if what it took to keep him alive was leaving, than that was what he would have to do. "How long will I be gone for?"

"That is not for me to say. Until you have learned all you need to know about these people. Only then can you help them the way you were meant to."

Clark nodded his head. The earth was a big place. He could only speculate how long it would take for him to learn what Jor-El said he had to, let alone all the information from Krypton that Jor-El had told him on an earlier visit was an integral part of what he had to learn. A year, at least, he would say. He would think about this later though. For know, he concentrated on the all important details of the trip he was apparently going to be taking, "When do I have to leave?"

A moment passed, long enough for Clark to realize just how fast his heart was beating and then….. "Tonight."

* * *

Chloe pulled the truck up to the entrance of the cave and got out, closing the door and entering the caves. She had taken more time than she thought she would have because she had decided to call Mrs. Kent to let her know what was happening. Unfamiliar with the old truck that she was driving, she had pulled off the road to make the call to Clark's mom. This was about him after all, and generally when Jor-El called Clark, something big was involved. Martha deserved to know.

In the end, Martha had asked her to go to the caves with Clark and call her once she knew what was happening. As this had been part of the plan to begin with, Chloe had continued driving.

Only now that she had reached her destination did she allow the concern and worry for her friend to take hold of her. Nothing good had ever come of Clark's visit here and she had a feeling that today would not be the day that that trend was broken.

She entered the caves and crossed her arms against the cold air that was blowing into the area. That was odd….if was almost as if Clark had left the door to the Fortress open but he didn't do that anymore….

Her thoughts were interrupted though, as the wall of rock that stood in front of the chamber slid open and Clark came out, a determined look on his face.

"Clark!" she called, coming up to him and touching him on the arm in comfort. She pulled back when he flinched away from her touch however.

"How long have you been waiting?" he asked, emotion just behind his words slipping out despite himself.

Chloe furrowed her brow in confusion. What exactly had happened in the Fortress? "I just got here. What did Jor-El want?"

Clark drew a deep breath and he looked her in the eye for the first time since she had gotten here, "I have to leave."

"What do you mean 'you have to leave'?" she asked, confused. "Do you mean the caves…."

"I mean Smallville," he breathed out, waiting for Chloe's reaction. "Jor-El wants me to leave Smallville."

"For how long? And what about your Dad?" Chloe asked demandingly.

Clark shook his head, "If I leave, then Jor-El will heal the damage done to my father's heart. He'll be fine. And as for how long I'll be gone….I don't know."

"So….are we talking days here? Weeks?"

"Years," Clark corrected her quietly, crossing his arms and looking at her. "Probably years. I don't know exactly how long but for what he wants me to learn, it'll be at least a year, but probably more."

Chloe drew a calming breath, "When does he want you to leave?"

"Tonight."

"Tonight!" Chloe's calm voice suddenly broke in shock.

"If I don't leave tonight then there's no guarantee that my father will live. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to take that chance. Nothing good has ever come of me ignoring him when he gives me an order," he sighed, running a hand over his face as he mentally tallied what he had to do before he began his journey. Packing was first on the agenda. After about a week in the Fortress learning about his heritage and what that entailed for him, he would be heading south, and then east. After that, he didn't know but he had a feeling that Jor-El would be telling him all this during their week long 'studies' to come.

"What about your Mom?" Chloe asked after a moment, not knowing what to say to his last words. Clark was leaving for all the right reasons and because of that, she had no words to give him to make him stay, or to go against Jor-El with. If this trip would save Mr. Kent's life, then Clark had to do it. His family meant too much to him to do otherwise.

"She'll be fine. THEY'LL be fine. They'll have each other and that's more than she'll have if I don't go tonight. From what Jor-El told me, Dad'll be good as new as soon as tomorrow morning," he began to walk towards the caves opening, Chloe following behind him.

She sighed, catching up to him and taking his hand supportively. He didn't need her telling him that he didn't have to do this right now because the fact of the matter was that he DID need to do this, if not for himself, then for his parents, and for the world. Chloe knew that he had a destiny, a purpose to his existence on this planet and if Jor-El wanted him to begin to fulfill it now, than some plan must be part of the reason. She could only assume that this plan would have some positive result for the planet. It was for this reason, ultimately, that she closed her mind to the side of her that wanted to march into the caves and go to the Fortress to tell Jor-El that he couldn't take her best friend from her like this. She felt as he squeezed her hand in acknowledgement of her presence and slowed.

"Chloe….can you go to the hospital to be with my Mom? I need to go home and pack."

She looked at him, trying to gauge what he was trying to tell her and suddenly, she knew, "Wait….you're not just going to leave, are you?"

He looked at her, averting his eyes, and nodded.

"You're not even going to say good-bye to your Mom?" she took her hand away and crossed her arms.

"It's easier this way," he murmured, "And if I say good-bye to her; to my father, then I'm not going to want to leave; I couldn't and I have to."

Chloe weighed his words for a moment before letting out a sigh, "So this is it then?"

He nodded sadly, "This is it. I need to go home to pack but that should only take an hour or so. After that…."

"You'll be gone," she finished sadly. "Clark, are you sure about this? I'm sure Jor-El would understand you saying good-bye."

Clark shook his head, "No. The sooner I leave, the better. At least then I'll know that the people I care about are going to be safe."

Chloe nodded her head before drawing him into a hug, "I'll miss you, you know?"

"I'll miss you too," he whispered into her ear.

After a moment, she let go, smiled, and turned to leave. When she reached the truck though, she turned, "Clark?"

He looked at her, an expectant expression on his face.

Chloe cleared her throat, "What do you want me to say to Lois?"

He paused a moment, thinking. "I don't know just…tell her….tell her that I'm coming back."

Chloe nodded, listening as he trailed off and knowing without asking what he was thinking. There was so much more that he was saying with those last three words beyond what he was actually saying.

"I've got to go, okay?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded. "Take care of yourself Clark."

And with that, she watched as he left, wondering what exactly she was supposed to say to his mother.


	10. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

Lois was startled out of the conversation she had been having with Martha Kent as Chloe entered the room an hour and a half after she had left it, a grim look on her face.

She furrowed her brow in confusion, "Chloe, what's wrong?"

For some reason, Chloe couldn't meet her eyes. Never a good sign.

Lois cleared her throat and tried a new approach, "So what took you so long? I thought you and Clark were just going to the Talon for food," she continued to talk, filling the awkward silence that Chloe had brought into the room with her. It was true what she had told Clark on the evening they had met: she didn't like uncomfortable silences and there was no way she was letting Chloe get away with killing her line of questioning with such a silence.

"Nothing," Chloe looked up, meeting Lois' eyes briefly before turning her gaze to Martha's. Mrs. Kents eyes widened a bit as Chloe silently conveyed that what she had to talk about now was about Clark. The question was how to get rid of her cousin long enough to have the conversation. "We, um, we just got caught up."

Lois watched the two of them suspiciously for a moment, taking in the fact that Chloe was missing two essential things to back her story up: the food, and Clark. Her cousin was naturally a bad liar when it came to keeping anything from Lois, but this was ridiculous. She was slightly insulted that Chloe would try to lie to her this ill prepared… "Alright, what's going on?"

"Nothing Lois," Chloe drew a sigh, shrugging her shoulders and knowing that Lois wasn't going to buy anything she told her right now just from the look on her face.

"Right," Lois drawled, crossing her arms and staring down Chloe from across the room. "Why do I get the feeling that that's not the complete story?"

Chloe opened her mouth to respond to her cousin but was interrupted by the sound of Lois' cell phone ringing from her purse. Her cousin blew air through her nose in frustration and picked up her purse, rifling through it until she found her phone.

Talk about being saved by the bell…

"Hello?" Lois asked into it and Chloe watched as Lois' look of suspicion slipped into seriousness. "Okay, just hold on a moment."

Lois stood up, phone and purse in hand. She looked at Chloe and rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You suck at lying, you know that, right? Now, I need to take this, but don't think this is over. We'll continue the interrogation in a moment."

And with that, she stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door.

Chloe drew a sigh of relief that Lois had left. Now she could speak freely. She looked at Martha, catching the questioning look in her eyes, and took the seat that Lois had vacated. She braced herself for the conversation to come as Mrs. Kent opened her mouth to speak.

"What's happened Chloe?" Martha looked at her. "Where's Clark?"

* * *

From outside the door, Lois brought the phone back to her ear, "Sorry about that."

"It's no problem. We just got your test results back from the lab."

"And?" Lois tensed; listening for her doctor to read off what she already knew was going to be a huge change in lifestyle. She didn't need to hear the results to know what she had known for a month and a half now. Indeed, she had been unwilling to admit that this was even a possibility, let alone a certainty.

She heard Dr. Rosen sigh, "It was positive, Lois. You're pregnant."

Lois felt the room begin to shift a bit and she sat down in the chair that was sitting near the door, trying to calm her breathing. "Are you sure?"

"There's no doubt about it. We ran it twice like you asked us to. Both tests were positive."

"So…." Lois breathed deep, biting her lip in sudden terror. She wasn't ready for this… "What happens now?"

"Well, we need to schedule another appointment to do an ultrasound. Is next Tuesday at 3 good for you?"

Lois cleared her throat, trying to stop the sudden rush of tears to her eyes, "Yeah. That should be fine."

"We also can discuss your….options if you'd like. I know how you felt about this possibility. If you're not comfortable with this then…."

"NO!" she blurted out suddenly, taking herself by surprise. It was true that she had had an in-depth talk with her doctor regarding her opinion on children and the having of them, but somehow now that it was happening, some options were now out of the question.

She was pregnant and, scared or not, she was keeping the baby.

She cleared her throat and wiped one of the tears that had escaped her eyes from her cheek. "We don't need to talk about…that. There is no other option for me but to have my baby."

Dr. Rosen sighed into the phone and Lois could practically hear the man nodding his head. Indeed, Dr. Rosen had been a military doctor on the base in Germany when Lois had been born and had been her family doctor-and a close family friend-since that time. He knew her well enough to know when she just needed someone to get to the point and leave her to mull over the ramifications of what she had just been told and now was certainly one of those times. "I'll see you on Tuesday then?"

"Um-hm," she dug around in her purse for a Kleenex, wishing that she wasn't such an emotional basket case right now. She had been telling herself it had just been PMS for the last month but now she knew better. "Are you going to be seeing my father anytime soon?"

"I'm playing golf with him on Saturday, why?"

Lois cleared her throat. There was no way her father could find out that he was going to be a grandfather from anyone but her. It was going to be hard enough explaining where the father of the child in question was without also having to explain why he had had to hear about the pregnancy through Lois' doctor. "Don't tell him about this, please. I want to be one to tell him."

"You have my word," Dr. Rosen breathed out, "I'll see you Tuesday. And Lois?"

"Yeah?" she ran a hand through her hair and sniffed into the phone.

"I know it's unexpected but…congratulations. Take care of yourself."

"Thanks," she murmured, listening as he hung up before hanging up her own phone, placing it neatly back in her purse and bringing the tissue in her hand to her eyes.

She took a moment to collect herself, vowing that if she could make it through the next few hours than it would be okay to go home and cry. Right now it was not an option. Mr. Kent was dying in a hospital bed, Mrs. Kent was worried sick, Chloe was behaving weirdly and Clark was nowhere to be found.

Now was not the time to tell everyone that she was going to introduce a baby into this din in the next 6 months.

Lois drew a large sigh and pulled herself together, willing her eyes to dry up for at least a little while. With one last breath of encouragement, she stepped closer to the door and pushed slightly, glad now that when she had closed the door earlier that she hadn't closed it completely. She didn't want to interrupt the conversation that Mrs. Kent and her cousin were having with the creaking of the hospital room door….

"…So you're telling me that he's leaving? Tonight?"

Lois stopped her forward movement into the room and backed away from the door, still close enough that she could hear what was going on but far enough that neither Chloe nor Mrs. Kent was aware she was there. This was wrong of her but for some reason Chloe had been behaving oddly since she had got back from wherever it was that she had been to and Lois wanted to know why. She had a feeling that if she stood here long enough, she would get an answer without having to go through with the interrogation she had been mentally bracing herself for…

"Martha, he has to. If he doesn't then Mr. Kent will die."

"And Jor-El told him this? How does he know that?"

_Jor-El? _Lois mouthed into the door in confusion. Who was Jor-El?

"Yes, Jor-El told him this. I didn't believe it at first either but apparently he can reverse the damage done if Clark does what he wants tonight," Lois could practically hear her cousin squirming in her seat.

There was a silence and then…. "So how long is Jor-El taking Clark from us this time?"

"Clark says at least a year. Maybe more. He's going to be up at the Fortress of Solitude for the next week, training, and then he's being sent out to….actually I don't know what, or where even. He didn't say."

Lois heard Martha draw a deep breath before responding, "So where is he now?"

"At the farm, packing. He said he'd only be a little while out there and then he was leaving."

"Why didn't he come here to tell me this himself?"

Chloe sighed and Lois could tell, even from behind the door that she didn't want to be the one saying these words. "He knew that if he did, he wouldn't leave and he has to. He has a destiny to fulfill."

Lois straightened up in shock. Smallville had a what to fulfill? Her head went back to the door….

"I know, Chloe, it's just…..hard. With Jonathan here and now….Clark. Is it ever going to end? Haven't we given Jor-El enough?"

Lois heard Martha's voice falter at this point, tears eminent.

"It's okay," Chloe's voice murmured and Lois assumed that she was giving Mrs. Kent a hug from the muffled tone of voice. Her opinion was confirmed as she heard a muffled sob and she knew that Martha was crying now.

She let her hand drop off the doorknob that she now realized that she had been holding the whole time she had been listening to the conversation between her cousin and Clark's Mom. With a shaky breath, she stepped silently back from the door and sank back down into the chair that she had so recently vacated. So that's how it was going to be…

Clark was leaving.

And she was pregnant.

She dropped her head in her hands and let out a moan. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her mind slipped back into the past effortlessly, remembering that night in her apartment. They had used the condoms that Chloe had left for them in the care package the first two times they had had sex, but the third time-in the shower after having 'dessert' in her bed, chocolate icing smeared liberally all over their bodies-they had forgotten. Once. That was all it had taken.

Lois let out a snort. Clark had always been an overachiever and now she knew that this trait didn't just exist in the academic sphere. At least she knew the baby would be smart…

The question she now had was whether or not to tell Clark that he was going to be a father. It was the right thing to do; they had conceived the baby together and so it made sense that he should be there for its growth and its first years of life. It would be wrong of her to keep it from him.

But what if keeping it from him saved his father's life?

While she was unsure about who Jor-El was and why he was making Clark leave, she was not unsure of how she felt about Chloe and Martha Kents opinion on the matter. According to what she had overheard, Clark really didn't have much of a choice if he wanted his father to live and she knew for a fact that if she went to the farm right now and told him that she was pregnant that he would stay out of obligation.

And his father would die as a result.

She shook her head and laid a hand unconsciously to the spot where the baby was, small enough not to make much of a difference in how her clothes were worn, but still there all the same. If she told him, he would stay; Jonathan would die….and she would never forgive herself for the choice she knew he would make.

She stood up, having come to a decision. She would go out to the farm to find out why he was leaving but she wouldn't tell him anything about the baby. That would only make his decision harder and she didn't want to do that to him. She did, however, want to know who Jor-El was and why he was making Clark leave for years at a time. The hand on her stomach froze as she thought about this. He was going to be so angry with her when he came back.

But his father would be alive and that was the important part. She didn't want to imagine how lost Clark would be without the grounding influence of Jonathan Kent. He was Clark's compass when he had to be and although this influence hadn't had to be utilized as often as it had when he was a boy, it was still there.

Jonathan had to live, even at the expense of the years Clark could have spent with his child.

Lois adjusted her purse on her shoulder and cast one final glance at the closed door of Mr. Kents hospital room. This was something she had to do and everyone would thank her for it later. Right now though, she had to move quickly. Clark was going to leave soon and she had to tell him something before he left. While she had decided to keep the baby from him, there was no way she was letting him leave without letting him know that she had lied to him about her feelings about that night.

He had to know that, at least.

With new resolve, Lois turned away from the doorway and began to walk down the corridor to the elevator.


	11. Chapter 12

**Part 12**

Clark threw the last t-shirt into his duffel bag and drew a frustrated breath. He had been planning on doing some travelling after he graduated so it wasn't as if he was unprepared mentally for a trip around the world.

He just hadn't expected to be going on that trip for a few years.

He looked around his bedroom one last time, a sad expression on his face, before turning to leave but was stopped by the figure standing in the doorway.

"Lois," he exclaimed in surprise. His plan for leaving quietly looked like it was not going to happen now. Lois, he knew, would not allow him to leave without some kind of explanation for his disappearance. "What are you doing here?"

Lois fidgeted where she stood, uncharacteristically showing him how nervous she was. He didn't have long to wait…

"Who's Jor-El?" she asked bluntly, crossing her arms and stepping into the room. Indeed, she had promised herself on the way over here that she would be as open as she could be in an effort to keep her courage from failing her. If she didn't, there was an excellent chance that she would either chicken out from telling him about her real feelings or begin to argue with him instead.

Judging from how nervous she was, she feared this would end with the latter.

Clark's eyes widened in shock at how straight to the point Lois was being. He almost felt he should be offended that she was assuming that he would just answer her question after that kind of an opening. He found himself too shocked to be offended however, her question being the last thing he had expected to come out of her mouth… "Where did you hear that name?"

Lois continued to fidget and Clark could have sworn he saw her shaking a bit. "Your Mom and Chloe were talking about Jor-El being the reason you're leaving tonight. I overheard," she set her purse down on his desk and pulled out the chair, seating herself before meeting his gaze again.

She watched as he drew a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair in what she knew was frustration and indecision. She recognized it because that's what she had been battling all day.

Clark cleared his throat, unsure of what to tell her. While Lois deserved to know why he was leaving, he found himself in the same conundrum that he had been with Lana; would telling her put her in more danger than he was prepared to let her be in? Granted, a certain amount of danger came with living in Smallville but that didn't mean that she should be searching it out unnecessarily.

He could conclusively say that knowing his secret definitely fell in line with searching it out unnecessarily.

On the other hand, he knew for a fact that Lois Lane was not about to let him get away with some nonsense about who Jor-El was and why he was making Clark leave town. No, Clark knew that Lois would demand to know all the details and for him to do that, he would have to come clean about who he was and where he came from.

This realization, terrifying when he had had to verbalize it to Pete and only slightly less so when he had learned that Chloe knew, felt unexpectedly right with Lois. He found himself wanting her to know. He knew though, deep down inside, that he shouldn't be feeling this way. While Chloe and Pete were his closest friends, Lois and he were not on par with them. They had been lovers, yes, but that had destroyed their friendship and anything else between them was out of the question.

There was no them; she had made that perfectly clear and because of that, there was no real reason that she needed to know his secret.

"Clark? Please." Lois interrupted his thoughts as she leaned forward in the chair and rested her arms on her knees, "Who's Jor-El?"

He sighed and ran a hand over his eyes in frustration. "Lois, does it matter? I have my reasons for leaving…."

"And they're honourable," she continued, nodding her head to emphasize her point. "It's to save your Dad's life, right?"

Clark's jaw dropped. "How exactly do you know about that?"

Lois rolled her eyes, putting on her usual façade of sarcasm in order to disguise how nervous about this conversation she still was, "I told you. I was listening in on your Mom and Chloe's conversation at the hospital. As much as I trust their opinions though, I'd really like to know why you're leaving. Especially when your father is lying in a hospital bed right now."

"It's complicated, Lois. You wouldn't understand and furthermore, it's none of your business," he shook his head before leaning down to zip up his bag. "And what do you care if I leave or not? You said it yourself; there's nothing between us, remember? Not even friendship."

_And yet we're having a baby together_, Lois quietly thought to herself and stood up, walking towards him. _You dug your own grave, Lane. Now you have to lie in it. _

"Clark, this affects your parents and Chloe- three people whom I care very much for. Your mom and Chloe understand why you're leaving, but I came over here because I don't and I'd like to."

Clark shook his head adamantly, "No. You don't need to know and I'm not telling you about any of that. The less people who know, the better."

Lois let out a frustrated sigh and questioned whether or not she had approached this talk correctly. On the way over, it had worked out so well in her head. She showed him that she knew enough to necessitate telling her his reasons for leaving. Then, he explained so that she didn't feel so guilty about not telling him that he was going to be a father. After that, she confessed her feelings to him, thus softening the blow when he returned to find her with a baby or a small child that would, with his overachieving luck, resemble him so much that there wouldn't even be the possibility of spinning a lie about who her offspring's father was.

From the defensive attitude she was getting, perhaps it would have been better if she had just skipped right to telling him how she felt about him, confusion and all. Indeed, while she knew that that night had meant something, she didn't know exactly what. She needed time to explore these feelings, time that she knew they would have had if she hadn't been such an idiot and told him their evening together had meant nothing.

In that alternate universe, she hadn't gotten out of bed that morning and they had made love again when he had woken up. By now, they would have been dating for three months and by the time she would have discovered that she was pregnant, they would have been more than half-way in love with each other. Her body and mind, still in the limbo left when she had told him that their love-making had been nothing, wouldn't let them move forward in reality until she verbalized the feelings she had been hiding from him.

With this in mind, she cleared her throat. She had started this conversation one way and she couldn't get to the way she should've started it until she had finished (or at least tossed aside) this one. "So you're just going to go then? Is that it? No explanation except what Chloe is telling your mother?"

"Don't you think I want to stay!" Clark exclaimed angrily. He had had enough. Lois had come into his room and started questioning him as if she owned him and he was sick of it. She made assumptions of him, frustrated and angered him, and made no apologies for her behaviour over the past three months. It was the feeling of helplessness that most drove his feelings of resentment now. She had feelings for him, this he knew, and even now-when he was about to leave for probably years- she STILL couldn't tell him.

He blew air out of his mouth and picked up his bag from the bed. It was time to go. "I just…..I can't. I have no choice. If I do, then my father will die."

Lois shook her head, fixating on Clark's last point when she knew she should be telling him how she felt before he got too angry with her and left, "See, that's where I think you're wrong. Everyone has a choice and the last time I checked, no one had the power to miraculously heal a human heart as damaged as your father's overnight."

Clark cleared his throat and looked at her, jaw ticking slightly. He had to remind himself that Lois had no way of knowing that yes in fact, Jor-El DID have the means to heal a human heart overnight. He was giving her that opportunity and for that he only had himself to blame for the sudden surge of anger and frustration he now felt. The fact of the matter was that he didn't have time for this. Jor-El was expecting him sometime before 'tonight' ended and he didn't want to risk being late. He had a feeling that that would be bad and there was too much at stake. 

With a breath, he continued, turning the gauntlet of questions that Lois had been throwing at him around and directing them at her, "Lois, why do you care so much? I would have thought you'd be the first one to encourage me to leave town. Maybe you should come clean about why you're really here because at this point, you have no reason to want me to stay. If that was your goal, you should have sent Chloe because she, at least, cares about me and would want me to stay. You've made it perfectly clear that you don't and won't allow yourself to care about me, so what's the point of wasting words on this conversation? Give me a reason Lois."

Lois averted her eyes guiltily and didn't answer. She bit her lip in sudden sadness as his words cut her. The irony was that she had an excellent reason for him to stay but she couldn't use it. Despite the fact that he wouldn't share with her who exactly Jor-El was and why he was able to make Clark leave Smallville on a moment's notice, she still held onto the faith she had in Martha and Chloe's opinions. If they felt that Clark was making the right decision, then so would she. There were bigger things at stake right now than the security that having the father of her child be there by her side for the pregnancy and the years to come would bring to her. Quite frankly, with the way she had treated him in the past few months, she hardly thought she would deserve it even if he chose to stay.

Clark nodded after a moment, pursing his lips. Even now, she still couldn't admit that she had feelings for him. "That's what I thought. I'll see you in a few years Lois. Maybe by then we can have this conversation again and it'll end differently."

Lois watched as he walked toward the door for a moment, a hand having moved unconsciously down to cradle the as of yet tiny curve of her belly where the baby was. There was no way she could let her baby's father leave the way he was going to. It was going to be bad enough having him come back years later to find he was a father without also finding out that she had kept all of her feelings locked up inside her from him too.

Although she was fairly certain he knew exactly how she felt about him.

"Clark, wait," she called after him as he took a step out of the room. She watched as he stopped walking away from her, at least for the moment, and she continued. "The reason I came over here tonight wasn't to find out who Jor-El was. I mean, I was curious but both Chloe and Martha seemed to understand why you were leaving and for that reason I'm willing to ignore the fact that there's no proof that you leaving will save your father's life. Not that my opinion on the matter should matter to you at all. It has no value because of the way I've treated you…

"Know this though before you leave: Martha's like the mother I never had and Chloe….Chloe's my best friend. I don't need to have proof if they believe something to be right or good and apparently what you're doing tonight is both of those things."

She cleared her throat and watched as he stepped closer to her, his duffel bag having been dumped nosily at the door when she had begun to talk. She continued, knowing that if she didn't say everything now that he would be gone and she wouldn't have a chance to do it again anytime soon, "And that's why I came over here tonight. Because you're leaving. I couldn't let you go without….clearing the air."

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes with her own and feeling a bit of that connection she was certain she had lost in the past three months. It was comforting to know that it was still there, a least a little bit. "That night in the closet with you and then….the morning after. It wasn't nothing. I just thought you should know that."

Clark shook his head wearily and continued to look at her. Finally, she was telling the truth. He found himself moving closer to her. He shouldn't be believing a word out of her mouth but….she was close to tears and he knew for a fact that she rarely let herself cry around anyone, especially him. It was a sign of weakness and he knew that, above all, Lois never wanted to be perceived as weak. The fact that she would expose herself in this way gave him hope that, after three months of treating each other like shit, they were finally making progress in the right direction.

Progress or not though, she had the worst timing in the world. It was going to hurt so much more if she continued to share with him all the things she had hid from him but he found himself welcoming the pain. It meant that he was still alive and he had been feeling incredibly numb since he had exited the caves.

He cleared his throat and moved closer until he was about three feet away. He hated to see any woman cry but that feeling was magnified by 100 with Lois. He wanted desperately to touch her now, to put a stop to her tears, but he knew that if he touched her now then he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. It was for this reason that he kept his distance.

Despite knowing this however, he felt his body continue its slow magnetic pull towards her and his feet brought him one step closer. He shook his head, responding to her confession, "I knew that already, Lois. I was just waiting for you to catch up."

"Well, I'm a little slow sometimes," she laughed humourlessly and sank down onto the side of his bed. "I just….I was scared. That morning…after, was a little overwhelming and I handled it wrong."

Clark looked hard at Lois, taking in from her expression that this, after months of lies, was finally the truth. "So if I hadn't been going anywhere, would you have told me this, or would you have kept it to yourself? I mean, you know how I feel. If you had told me this a month ago than….."

"…we would probably be dating by now," Lois murmured, "That is, if you had forgiven me for the way I treated you. So maybe I would still be wooing you at this point, I'm not sure. I know for a fact that I would probably be at least half in love with you by now though."

"Only half?" Clark sat down next to her on the bed, inwardly telling himself that this was a bad idea. He knew it, but he couldn't stop himself.

She met his eyes and quirked a teary smile in his direction, "Well, I told you I'm slow on the uptake. I also have this problem with admitting how I feel about people. Chloe says I have commitment issues."

Clark let out a snort and laid a hand over hers. "Really? I never would have guessed."

They fell silent, their sarcasm and banter putting a temporary bandage on the pain and resentment that still simmered between them.

He broke the silence though, ignoring the simmering as curiosity got the better of him. He didn't want to leave with a negative experience and he knew that if they tried to tackle all of their feelings tonight that he would end up leaving as he had all of their conversations since that night in her closet; angry and with another piece of the bridge that used to connect them together forcibly removed. "So how DO you feel about me?"

She sighed, clasping the hand he had placed over hers and squeezing. She had made a vow to be as honest as possible with him and she wasn't about to break it now, with things between them looking like everything could one day be as it was before. "I think I could easily give you all of me, Clark. I've never felt like this before, especially after I DID give you all of me and I've never felt so complete as I did that night."

Clark squeezed Lois' hand in his and watched as she sniffed back some more tears. He knew exactly how she felt because he had felt the same thing. The only difference had been in how they handled these feelings.

With this in mind, he leaned over to his bedside table and plucked a tissue from the box sitting there, handing it to Lois.

"Thank you," she took it and blew her nose with her free hand, "So when do you have to leave by?"

"Sometime tonight. Before the sun rises. I think as long as it's still dark outside, Jor-El will consider it tonight."

Lois nodded her head, using the tissue to dab her eyes. "Someday you're going to have to tell me about this Jor-El guy and how he's gotten you to do this on such short notice. From the impression I got from the conversation that your Mom and Chloe were having, this hasn't been the first time he's done this kind of thing to you."

Clark shook his head. "No. But hopefully it will be the last." He looked at her and smiled gently and, in an impulsive move, let go of her hand and pulled her closer to his body with his now free arm. She was still crying silently, "I think I should be flattered that you're so upset that I'm leaving. I'm coming back, you know."

"I know," she wiped her eyes again and allowed herself to rest her head against his shoulder. She wasn't surprised at how good it felt to be back in his arms. One thing about that evening that had not gone unnoticed by her was how safe she felt when he was touching her.

She had missed that.

Lois sighed and looked up at him, noting how amused he looked at how upset she was. If she thought she had missed how safe he made her feel, then she had missed the look of amusement he had so often worn on his face prior to the evening that had changed everything more. The 'Date' had been a tiny example of the pain they could cause each other in comparison to their encounter in the closet. Unwillingly, she felt a smile lift her face, "Stop making fun of me. I just confessed something I should have months ago and you're laughing."

"No, I'm not," Clark let out a laugh and pulled her even closer.

He had missed her letting him do this.

She pointed a finger at his face, "Yeah, you are. That was a laugh, Clark Kent."

"I'm sorry," he smiled again, noticing too late just how close their faces now were. "I'll try to stop."

"Do that," Lois' voice grew husky as she too noticed how close they had gotten in the last few seconds. She met his eyes and soon, she found their faces getting even more closer. Clark's lips had found hers even before she knew what was happening.

He drew back after a moment, breathing raggedly and trying to get a hold on his emotions. He was leaving and now was a really bad time to start something with Lois again. Despite his mental protests, he found himself catching her mouth with his own, her lips salty with the tears she had so recently cried.

"This is a really bad idea," he murmured into her mouth as they continued to kiss. "We have more to talk about and I have to leave, otherwise….."

"I'll make sure you're out of here while it's still dark," Lois sighed, her hands moving down to loosen his shirt. "And we'll have plenty of time to talk when you come back. Just kiss me, okay? We don't know when you're going to be back and I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste the next few hours like I made us waste the last three months."

Clark, despite his protests to the contrary, found himself agreeing with her as he helped her pull his shirt over his head, and he pushed her down onto the bed.


	12. Chapter 13

**Part 13**

**A/N The first part of this is not here; it's NC-17 and I can't post that here. If you want to read it, go to Divine Interventions (http/ loisclark. proboards78 .com)**

* * *

Chloe found her cousin sitting in the Kents kitchen the next morning, a mug of tea in her hands and a box of Kleenex on the table in front of her.

She raised an eyebrow in Lois' direction, "Is this where you've been all night? Mrs. Kent and I thought you went home…"

Lois shook her head and took a sip of her tea, "No."

"So what are you doing out here?" Chloe sat down at the table next to Lois.

Lois met her cousin's eyes and shrugged, "I overheard you and Mrs. Kent talking and….I had to see Clark before he left."

Chloe's eyes widened as she realized what Lois must have heard, "How much of it did you….."

"Up until Martha started to cry. After that, I decided to come out here. I couldn't let him leave without telling him how I….." she trailed off and let out a shuddering breath, unable to finish her sentence.

"Lois?" Chloe broke the silence after a moment. Something else had happened, she could tell, and she had a funny feeling if Lois had come out here to confess her feelings last night to Clark, and she was still here, that something more had happened. "Where's Clark now?"

Lois stood up, her eyes misty but not yet teary. She grabbed a tissue to wipe her nose and walked over to the kitchen counter, topping off her cooling tea. "He left after…."

"After…." Chloe looked at Lois and suddenly everything clicked. "Oh God. Did you two…..again?"

Lois lost the battle with her emotions as she sat down at the table and grabbed another tissue, crying silently now. She nodded and let out a breath, answering Chloe's question, "But it was different this time Chlo. We talked first and I mean really talked. And after….he just held me, and I wanted to be held. I've never wanted to be held in my life!"

From the corner of her eye she caught Chloe cracking a smile but chose to ignore it as she continued.

Chloe had to know why she was crying now; it wasn't because Clark was gone. She had known he was leaving and under ordinary circumstances, she would have known that his reasons for leaving were admirable and right, and all those other things that they should be. The reason she was crying now was because she had woken up in his empty bed, his side cold, and realized what exactly she had taken from him.

He was going to hate her for it and everything they had gained in the past evening would have been for nothing.

Chloe's hand fell over hers comfortingly and Lois found herself verbalizing her feelings in a prologue to what she knew was going to shock her cousin.

It was a good thing that she was sitting down because she was pretty sure that if she hadn't been, Chloe would be falling down in the next few moments.

"I don't think he's completely forgiven me but I guess it won't matter, will it? He's going to hate me once he comes back anyway so all of the talking won't mean anything at all."

Chloe furrowed her brow in confusion. First Lois tells her that she overheard the conversation that she and Mrs. Kent had had the previous evening, than she had confessed that she and Clark had had sex yet somehow, hadn't discussed Jor-El even though she knew for a fact that that name had featured prominently in the conversation Lois overheard. She also had a hard time believing that Lois, curious as she was, would allow Clark to leave after the huge confession she must have made without asking for an explanation of who the mysterious Jor-El was.

"Lois, I don't understand," Chloe picked up Lois' mug of tea and took a sip. "Why would Clark hate you when he comes back? You both admitted that you had feelings for one another and from what you told me, the sex wasn't as traumatic as last time so why would he hate you?"

Lois bit her lip, "Chloe, the phone call last night; the one I had to leave the room to take? It was from Dr. Rosen."

"Lois, are you okay?" Chloe leaned forward in panic. "Are you sick?"

"No," Lois let out a humourless laugh. "I'm pregnant."

The mug crashed to the floor.

"Oh my God," Chloe stood up and went over to get a tea towel and a garbage bag for the mess, Lois' words resounding in her head still. "You're pregnant!"

Lois nodded, "Three months."

"Three months…." Chloe echoed, stooping down to pick up the big pieces of the mug and put them into the bag before using the rag to wipe up the tea on the floor. "So that means…."

Lois drew a breath, nodding again, "Yeah. You pretty much made yourself a Godmother with the whole 'locking-Clark-and-I-in-a-closet-thing."

"I left you condoms!" Chloe shot Lois an adamant look, pointing at her in an accusatory manner. "I left you a whole box."

"And we used them," a blush rose on Lois' cheeks. "But we forgot the last time."

Chloe shook her head incredulously, "But you told him, right? Before he left, you let Clark know he was going to be a father?"

"What!"

Lois and Chloe swung their heads around to look at the person who had just opened the door to the kitchen.

Martha Kent stood there, looking shocked.

Lois swore under her breath.

"Mrs. Kent," Chloe cleared her throat awkwardly, knowing instinctively how uncomfortable the conversation was about to become. "I thought you would still be at the hospital. I was going to bring you a change of clothes."

"Well, that was very kind of you, Chloe," Martha walked further into the kitchen with a determined look on her face. "Jonathon had a 'miraculous' recovery this morning and, since the doctor's have determined that his heart looks better than it's ever looked, I thought I'd come home and bring him a bag of his things for when he's released tomorrow morning. That doesn't matter though. What is this about my son becoming a father?"

Lois cleared her throat and ran a hand through her hair. This was not the way she wanted to be doing this but she knew that Martha deserved the truth. It was high time anyway…. "The reason why Clark and I have been at odds for the past few months, Mrs. Kent, is because…..we spent the night together. The next morning, he wanted more from me that I thought I could give emotionally, he was hurt because of it, and we've been fighting ever since. Last night I got a call from my doctor; I'm pregnant and…it's Clark's."

Martha sat down at the table heavily, "How far along are you?"

Lois looked down at her hands, "Three months."

"Did you tell him?" Martha asked after a moment, echoing Chloe's earlier question that Lois hadn't answered. She could only imagine how her son had felt this morning if Lois had told him. He had had to leave but it must have nearly killed him to do so.

Lois looked from Martha to Chloe and then back again, "No. I didn't tell him. I knew he had to leave from what I overheard from your conversation about that Jor-El person and I couldn't do that to him. He would have stayed and Mr. Kent would have died otherwise."

"So he doesn't know?" Chloe asked, once again incredulous at her cousin's decisions. Clark was now gone, Lois was pregnant……and Clark had no idea that when he returned he was going to be a father.

"How many times do I have to say this, Chloe?" Lois stood up from the table and moved to make herself some more tea. Chloe had inconsiderately dropped hers earlier and she wanted more. "I didn't tell hi….ow! Son of a…."

"What happened?" Martha stood up, coming around the table to see what had happened to cause Lois such sudden pain. She was still reeling in shock from the fact that a) she was going to be a grandmother and b) that Lois had made the decision not to tell her son about the baby because she had taken Jonathon's life into account.

"I stepped on a piece of the glass from the mug that Chloe dropped," Lois hissed, sitting back down in her chair and allowing Martha to look at her.

"It's not in very deep," Martha murmured, moving to the chair next to Lois and sitting down to look at the foot. "Let me go get the tweezers." She stood up and left the room.

Lois immediately turned angry eyes on Chloe, "Way to go! This is not how I wanted Mrs. Kent to find out that Clark and I made her and Mr. Kent grandparents!"

"Lois, I'm sorry," Chloe murmured defensively, aware that Martha was just in the other room. She was interrupted from whatever else she would have said as Mrs. Kent came back into the room and picked up Lois' foot again, using the tweezers to pick out the glass, examining the wound after she was finished. It was still bleeding a bit and so she moved to the table to open a bandage.

"Mrs. Kent? I don't think you're going to need that," Chloe's stunned voice made her look up….and gasp as she saw that Lois' wound had healed on its own.

Lois looked between the two women, "Does someone want to explain why I'm healing my own cuts now? Because you two don't look nearly as shocked as I feel right now."

Martha cleared her throat and looked at Lois, "Lois, sweetie, there's something Chloe and I should tell you about Clark…"


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**Seven Months Later**

Chloe stepped out of the elevator and adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, removing her keys from her pocket simultaneously. Her stomach growled loudly and for what seemed the millionth time that afternoon, she was reminded that she hadn't eaten anything more substantial than a granola bar since breakfast. It was six o'clock in the evening now so hopefully, Lois had made enough of whatever it was that she was having for dinner to feed Chloe too. With a sigh, she reached the apartment that she shared with her cousin and opened the door.

"Lois?" she called quietly, mindful that the baby might be asleep right now. This was doubtful; Elizabeth generally was up for the dinner hour, ready for her own dinner so Chloe really shouldn't be worried about waking her up. Despite knowing this, Chloe slipped her shoes off and was careful to walk quietly through the large apartment.

She found them in the living room watching television, Elizabeth-right on schedule-having her dinner at Lois' breast, and Lois' dinner sitting on the coffee table in front of her, getting cold.

"There's more food in the kitchen if you're hungry," Lois smiled as her cousin came into the room and dropped her backpack on the floor.

Chloe groaned in appreciation, "Lois, you're an angel."

"Don't thank me. I had nothing to do with it," Lois called after her. "The Kents were in town today and brought this over."

Chloe entered the living room after a moment, plate loaded down with food and a glass of orange juice in her hand, and sat down on the couch next to Lois. She sat her plate and glass onto the coffee table and looked down at her goddaughter who was still engrossed in her dinner. Elizabeth, noticing her godmother's eyes on her, glared in annoyance.

Chloe let out a sound of shock and picked up her fork, lifting a forkful of rice to her mouth and swallowing before speaking, "She just glared at me."

Lois snorted in laughter and looked down at her daughter, "Month old babies don't glare, Chloe." She paused to think about it, furrowing her brow a bit, "Or maybe they do. You WERE staring at her."

"And you wonder where the Lane in your daughter is," Chloe exchanged a smile with Lois and took another bite of her meal, "So what were the Kents doing here today?"

Lois shook her head incredulously, "The doctors in Smallville made Jonathon come up to Metropolis for some scans. Something about not believing that someone could recover that fast and having to make sure that he actually was healed. Anyway, they dropped by after to see Elizabeth and they brought food with them."

"That was nice of them."

"Yeah, well, apparently Clark phoned them a few days ago to let them know where he was and I have a strong suspicion that they were feeling guilty about him not being here for this," Lois rolled her eyes and shifted in her spot as the baby reached the half way point of her meal. She deftly moved Elizabeth to the other breast.

Chloe took a sip of her juice and sat it back down on the table, "So how are the Kents? Not that we didn't see them just last weekend…"

"They're good," Lois nodded. "They invited us to the farm next weekend actually."

"Sounds like fun. Are you sure you want me to be there though?"

Lois tilted her head in her cousin's direction and narrowed her eyes, "Chloe, they specifically invited you along. That means you should come. Besides, I'm going to need the company. You know how they get with Elizabeth; the only time I'm able to pry her away from them is when she needs to be fed."

Chloe smiled, remembering the last trip back to Smallville that she and Lois had made two weeks ago. Her cousin wasn't exaggerating when she talked about the Kents and their relationship with their granddaughter; even at the tender age of one month, Elizabeth had both of them wrapped around her tiny fingers.

Lois took a sip of her juice to clear her throat, "So how was class today?"

Chloe looked up at her cousin and drew a breath, "Good. I got my paper in so that's out of the way. I'm going to be so glad to be done."

Lois laid a supportive hand gently over her cousin's, "Just a few more months to go and you'll be finished."

"I know," Chloe leaned back into the couch. "It's kind of crazy to think that four years of my life went by that fast."

Lois arched a brow and looked down at her daughter, the same thoughts running through her head. She couldn't believe she was mother now…"You're telling me."

A beat passed before Chloe began to speak again, "So what'd you do all day?"

A soft look came over Lois' face. As much as she liked leaving the house, she had found herself enjoying the time she had had to spend inside with Elizabeth since her birth. It was funny how that happened when you fell completely in love with someone at first sight, "The usual. Nap, feed, change, bathe…repeat. About 2, Martha and Jonathon stopped by but they didn't stay long because they had to drive back tonight. What else……OH! That reminds me..."

"What?" Chloe had to crack a smile at how domestic Lois had gotten in the past month. In an effort to keep her mind sharp and also to continue with her plan to finish University, she had signed up for online courses in her fifth month of pregnancy. Between feedings, loads of laundry, and naps of her own, Lois somehow managed to get her papers done and had picked up a new hobby along the way.

Cooking.

She explained it away as survival skills for later when Elizabeth was on solid foods; while Lois could survive on take-out alone, she didn't want her daughter to have to. Indeed, a full month before her due date, nesting instincts had taken over and Lois had attempted several projects that had Chloe raising her eyebrows. Her cousin could cook now so she was pretty sure it hadn't been a lost cause, though at the time, it had seemed like it.

Lois drew Chloe out of here thoughts with an arch of her brow as she continued, "Elizabeth smiled at me today."

"Really!" Chloe responded excitedly, shocking herself. If someone had told her a year ago that she and Lois would be sitting in their apartment getting excited about something as tiny as her goddaughter's first smile, she wouldn't have believed them.

It was amazing the difference that a year made.

She continued, a frown on her face now. Smiles could be deceiving, "Are you sure it wasn't just gas like last time?"

Lois shrugged, acknowledging that Chloe's question was a fair one. Indeed, they had thought that Elizabeth had been smiling at them off and on for a week now but every time the baby had proved them wrong. "Well, she laughed when she did it and then she smiled again so I don't think so."

"What'd it look like?" Chloe asked quietly, looking down at the baby who, finished with her meal, was rapidly falling asleep. If she had been awake, she might have tried to get a smile out of her now but Elizabeth was too drowsy for that at the moment.

Lois handed the tired baby to Chloe and buttoned up her shirt, "ALL Smallville. If I didn't vividly recall giving birth to her, I'd swear I had nothing to do with her existence."

A snort of laughter escaped Chloe's mouth. This had been a running joke regarding Elizabeth who, as Lois had said, resembled Clark so much it was scary. From her hair and eyes to-apparently-her smile, the resemblance was unmistakeable. Where Elizabeth most resembled Lois would become apparent as she grew, Chloe was sure, as the little girl had already shown signs of being as sociable-and at times as irritable- as her mother was.

She stood up, following Lois into her bedroom where the crib and changing table were. Elizabeth didn't even notice as her mother changed her quickly and slipped her into her crib.

Chloe reached over to the changing table next to the crib and switched on the baby monitor, catching a grateful look from Lois, before following her cousin out of the room and closing the door enough that any noise the two of them would make would go unnoticed.

Lois settled herself back on the couch and picked up her plate of food, watching as Chloe joined her and did the same. She had about 2 hours before the baby would be up again for another diaper change, and she hadn't had an opportunity to sit down and talk with her cousin in about a week.

Chloe waited until they had both finished their meals before beginning to talk again, this time tackling the delicate subject that they had only briefly touched upon earlier: Clark.

"So, um," she began, unsure of how to approach this. Lois hadn't been incredibly sensitive about the subject, but Chloe was not stupid. Now, with the baby actually here, she knew how much more her cousin was missing the father of her child. Not only that, but she also knew how guilty Lois was probably feeling. Indeed, her cousin carried guilt around like she did her purse in this instance, "You mentioned that Clark called the Kents. Did he…"

"No," Lois shook her head, trying to remain relatively neutral on the subject. She missed Clark but there could be no help for it; he had to do what he had to do and it wasn't going to happen any faster from her feeling miserable about it. She had Elizabeth now, and that was reason enough to be happy.

She could still feel guilt though.

"Apparently he's in Africa right now and the only reason he was able to call was because some kind tourist he saved out in the middle of nowhere leant him the use of his satellite phone."

Chloe snorted. That sounded like Clark. He had called home exactly three times in the past seven months and every time it had been the result of someone practically forcing a phone into his hand.

She had a suspicion that Jor-El had put restrictions on him about who and when he could make contact with his human roots because all the calls had been rushed, five minute jobs…..and only to his parents.

"I'm glad though," Lois murmured, "If he called here, I don't think I could lie to him about Elizabeth and I really don't want to be having that conversation over the phone. I can just imagine the problems THAT would bring."

"No," Chloe shook her head, imagining that conversation and mentally cringing. "That wouldn't be good at all."

"But today, when she smiled….for a moment I wished he WOULD call so I could tell him," Lois shook her head and reached for her juice glass.

Despite her efforts to stay happy, Lois felt herself unexpectedly slipping into sadness again. She had been doing so well too…

Chloe nodded her head and took a look at her cousin, sensing that Lois was about to get depressed on her again. Lois had never really forgiven herself for not telling Clark when she had had the chance, even though she knew it had been the right thing; it had saved Jonathan's life.

That morning in the Kents kitchen after Lois' inadvertent confession to Mrs. Kent had left her angry at first that Clark hadn't said anything to her about it not only because it now made her fodder for supermarket tabloids if they ever got a hold of the story, but because he hadn't trusted her enough even during their last encounter to admit to her who he was. At the same time though, she had become more understanding as to why he had had to leave, and why he had kept his secret from her. As for her own guilt, the fact that Jonathon Kent was still alive suitably backed up the idea that Lois had done the right thing.

That didn't stop her from feeling angry and hurt though.

Lois cleared her suddenly thick throat. Tears had been coming easier since she had discovered she was pregnant and, despite the fact that the pregnancy was over, she found she was still able to cry over Clark Kent.

"Do you want some ice cream?" Chloe interrupted Lois' bout of impromptu depression. "I think we still have some of the chocolate left over from our Johnny Depp marathon."

"Really?" Lois perked up at this and sat up, wiping the corners of her eyes before picking up their plates and standing up.

She watched as Chloe stood up too, picking up the now empty juice glasses and following her cousin into the kitchen. She reached into the freezer for the ice cream and set it on the countertop, simply starring at Lois.

She didn't like when her cousin was quiet like this because it meant that she was thinking again and thinking, in Lois' case, was generally a bad thing.

"What?" Lois looked up from the dishes she was stacking.

Chloe lifted the lid of the tub of dessert and reached up for the bowls but thought better of it at the last moment. There was only about a quarter of the 2 litre tub left and there was no use dirtying bowls that they wouldn't need.

She opened the cutlery drawer and removed two spoons, clearing her throat as she did so, "Lois, are you okay?"

Lois let out a short laugh. Was she okay? Now THAT was a loaded question.

"You know, if I had a nickel for every time you've asked me that in the last 10 months I'd be rich by now. Yes Chloe, I'm fine. Dr. Rosen tells me that it's perfectly normal for me to be a little sad right now. My hormones are all over the place, Elizabeth's only a month old and therefore keeping me up at odd hours, and, barring you, for the most part I'm doing this alone. I have no idea when Clark's coming back or even if he's going to want to talk to me when and if he does return, let alone when and if he's going to want to see his daughter so yeah, I'm not entirely alright right now. But you know what? That's okay. These are all normal feelings."

Chloe drew a breath and looked at her cousin before drawing her into a quick hug. Despite the fact that they were indeed all 'normal feelings,' Lois had to know that someone was there for her and that everything was going to be alright. "Lois, you're not alone and I can almost guarantee that when Clark comes back he's not only going to want to talk to you, but he's going to want to see his daughter. In fact, I'm pretty sure that once we introduce them, we're going to have a pretty hard time keeping them apart."

Lois smiled into Chloe's shoulder sadly, a small tear running down her cheek, "She does have that effect on people, doesn't she?"

"Completely," Chloe let go, and handed Lois a spoon. "And you know Lois, Elizabeth may look like Clark but she gets that particular trait from you."

Lois rolled her eyes a bit tearfully, and brought a hand up to wipe it away, "You think?"

"I know," Chloe said softly, watching as Lois drew a deep breath, and pulled herself together. Ice cream and a good cry was always a good remedy for depression but Chloe had hoped that she could do this without the tears. It was good to know that she had managed, at least in part, to draw some of that negative energy away from her cousin, "So what's it going to be tonight then? Buffy Marathon?"

Lois shrugged, all thoughts of tears fading away as quickly as they had come. She'd give hormones their dues; she was happy as easily as she was sad because of them, "Only if we start from the third season. Season Two got too angsty and I can't stand how Willow mooned over Xander in Season One."

"Hey, I happen to like the Second Season, thank you very much," Chloe piped up defensively. "And Willow thought she was in love. Give the girl a break."

"Right," Lois smirked, "Willow should have started dating someone else to make Xander notice that she was more than a friend and you, Chloe Sullivan, only like Season Two because you like looking at Angel."

Chloe hit her cousin on the shoulder, "So do you!"

Lois nodded her head reluctantly, "Well, he's hot. Season Two it is then, but we're skipping to the episode where Spike comes to town. Raises eye candy to a whole new level."

"You can say that again," Chloe flung herself onto the couch and dug into the ice cream as Lois loaded the DVD.

They had been sitting on the couch for about 15 minutes when Chloe decided to break the silence. "Hey, Lo?"

"Yeah, Chloe?" Lois stuck her spoon in the open tub of chocolate ice cream and took a spoonful, not breaking her eyes from the television.

Chloe cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Are you happy? And be honest with me."

Lois took a moment to consider before nodding her head. She had Elizabeth, and Chloe, the Kents, her sister and her father (who had made a point of coming to visit his granddaughter twice in the past two weeks alone) all supporting her. While the father of her child was apparently in Africa right now, she also had a very good reason why he wasn't there, "Yeah Chloe. Relatively speaking, I think I am."

"Good," Chloe took a spoonful of ice cream herself. "Tomorrow we're getting out of the apartment by the way. I've got the day off and I've decided that it's high time my goddaughter got to see the inside of the Daily Planet."

A small smile built on Lois' face, "Okay."

**The End**


End file.
